


Power Rangers Dino Thunder: The Pink Redux

by shellacopter



Series: Julie Stewart [1]
Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Thunder, Power Rangers Turbo
Genre: Dino Thunder Pink Ranger, Existing Ranger Sibling, F/M, I'm Awful at Writing Fight Scenes, Julie Stewart (OFC) - Freeform, Just With My Own Character, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Retelling of Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:07:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 152,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26074642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shellacopter/pseuds/shellacopter
Summary: TL;DR - What it says on the tin.Julie Stewart - Little Sister, Olympian, High Schooler - starts her Senior Year of High School off with detention where she steals a pretty glowing rock from a Creepy Murder Basement in a Creepy Murder Cave with three other people and suddenly finds herself wearing a lot more spandex than a figure skater, who actually [i]wears[/i] a normal amount of spandex, should, and becoming the Pink Dino Thunder Ranger.
Series: Julie Stewart [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892962
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	1. Day of the Dino, Part 1

The fancy blue sports car pulled up to the student drop off and every eye was instantly drawn to it. The girl in the front passenger seat sunk down as far as she could go, holding onto her backpack tightly, the dangling ice skates clinking together.

“Of course we had to come in the nice car,” she muttered under her breath. Her brother, the driver, chuckled.

“Take a look at it this way Julie, everyone will think you’re cool! I would have killed to be dropped off in a fancy car when I started high school.”

Julie Stewart rolled her eyes.

“You were 12 when you started high school Mr. Big Brain,” she replied. “This is just embarrassing.”

Her brother rolled his eyes back at her. “Come on Little Pain, it won’t be bad. I know Reefside wasn’t where you wanted to live, but-“

“But it’s where I have to,” she finished. Flashbacks of falling and camera flashes and news articles and doctors appointments ran through her mind. “Wish me luck Big Brain.”

“You don’t need luck,” he replied with a smile. “You’re heading to the rink after, right? I wish I’d get off work in time to pick you up but-“

Julie opened the door and smiled at her brother, pulling her sunglasses over her eyes. “I know you would Jay. Yes, I’ll be at the rink.”

“And you’ll let me know if anything changes?”

Julie snorted, “Sure yeah. Of course. I’ll let you know if I somehow make friends and not go to the rink which will _never_ happen.”

“Never say never, Little Pain!”

As soon as she slammed the door, her brother revved his engine (causing her to want to sink into the sidewalk as everywhere stared _again_ ) and drove off, leaving her all alone at the front steps of a new school, in a new town.

* * *

Julie tried to shrink as far into herself as she could in her first period class. Everyone was going crazy, throwing things and shouting. Was this how it was in public school? She hadn’t been in an actual classroom since she was in elementary school and, even surrounded by other seven-year olds, she didn’t remember it quite like _this_.

“Guys, settle down! Take your seats please.”

She looked up and caught sight of a man wearing glasses and a lab coat as he came into the room. He walked up to the front of the classroom and addressed the class.

“I’m Dr. Oliver, and this is first period science. Before we start, are there any questions?”

Julie had hoped that nobody would say anything so they could get the show on the road, but a girl in the front row with a super tight ponytail raised her hand and she let out a sigh, right as the rest of the class let out a loud groan. The guy sitting next to her snorted.

“Not a fan of Cassidy?” he whispered. “Me either.”

“Dr. Oliver,” the girl started. “As you know I’m the anchor and field reporter for our school TV station.” The entire class let out a laugh. “Anyway, I’m sure our viewers are wondering, well, you don’t really look old enough to be a teacher.”

“Oh gag,” Julie couldn’t resist saying out loud. The guy beside her let out a laugh. “Seriously? Flirting with him? In front of all of us?”

Her table partner smirked, “That’s Cassidy. She has absolutely no shame.” He held out his hand and Julie reluctantly shook it. “I’m Ethan. Ethan James.”

“Julie Stewart,” she replied with a smile. “Nice to meet you.”

“You’re new here, aren’t you?” Ethan asked. Julie blushed and ran a hand down her face.

“That obvious?”

“You only mildly stick out.”

Great.

“Let’s put the camera down,” Dr. Oliver said. Julie startled, only to see that the guy sitting next to Cassidy was holding a camcorder in her hand. “For now, let’s talk about you guys and what you expect of yourselves in this class. Because that’s what’s really important.”

He was quiet for a minute as he looked around the room, only to come to a stop on the empty seat at the table Julie was at.

“Is someone missing?”

* * *

As soon as class ended, Ethan waved at her and walked off with his friend in an honest to God bucket hat and Julie was, once again, alone.

She sat next to a group of girls in cheerleading uniforms in her next class and they looked down their nose at her and she resisted the urge to hit them.

If they only knew.

Julie managed to restrain most of her violent urges all day, biting her tongue and dealing with being the ‘spectacle’ of the new person. Her brother had warned her that Reefside was a small town and new people stuck out like sore thumbs. Thankfully, the new principal and Dr. Oliver drew most of the skepticism away from her.

But that didn’t mean that she still didn’t get some.

“January, right? I’m Cassidy Cornell, the anchor and field reporter for the school’s TV station. This is my camera man, Devin. Everyone wants the scoop on the new girl.”

“It’s Julie,” she corrected while rolling her eyes. “And I’m afraid that they’re just going to have to get over it.”

Cassidy looked taken aback and even the camera guy’s jaw dropped a bit.

“No no, you see. Everyone wants to know who you are. The flashy car you rolled up in the morning made a lot of people veeeeery interested. Surely you can answer a couple of questions?”

“Surely, you understand the word ‘no’. Should I phrase it in a way that journalists understand? ‘No. Comment.’” Julie smiled, showing all her teeth in a way that she knew was terrifying because she had practiced it herself. “Now, can I please go?”

Cassidy let out a gasp and turned around, storming off in a huff. She grabbed Devin’s arm and drug him with her and Julie let out a laugh at the way he swung around. She turned to keep moving towards her next class but was stopped by a woman wearing glasses and an ascot.

“Those blades constitute as a weapon, Miss Stewart,” she said.

“They’re skates,” Julie replied, confused. “They even have the guards on them. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Well of course you wouldn’t,” the woman replied. “You’ve knocked yourself in the head a few too many times.”

Julie’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to start cursing the lady out – how _dare_ she talk about her as if she knows her – but she was interrupted by the sprinklers going off. The girl that was walking with the woman, that Julie hadn’t seen yet because she had on her Anger Blinders as her mother had called them once, let out a shriek and tried to cover her guitar.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” she said.

Julie looked up, dripping, as the boy she had sat next to in first period walked by with a giant, blue umbrella and a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

* * *

Julie fell into step with the girl with the guitar, Ethan, and a guy wearing a red soccer uniform as the woman – who Julie realized had to be the new principal – led them inside the building to what she assumed was her office.

“Sit!” she demanded. The three soaked (and one dry) teenagers squished together onto the small bench.

“Principal Randall,” Julie had guessed right, “I’d just like to mention the fact that there’s absolutely no hard evidence linking me to that unfortunate sprinkler incident.”

“Save it for Judge Judy, Mr. James,” she then turned to you and the others. “The four of you have detention, for one week starting today. Now if there are no further questions-“

“Excuse me?” Julie replied.

“What? I have computer club!” Ethan said.

Principal Randall practically spit as she replied, “I didn’t think so” and stormed into her office.

Julie let out a groan and leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes.

“Okay, somebody seriously needs a hug,” the girl said. Julie snorted and leaned forward.

“My brother is going to _kill_ me,” she muttered into her hands.

The last guy leaned forward and snarked, “Dude. Computer club?” And Ethan just shook his head.

Her first day and she was in trouble.

* * *

“-Perfect, bring them with you. That should be sufficient torture for them,” Julie groaned as Principal Randall came around the corner, followed by Dr. Oliver from science class.

The rest of the day had drug on, she had missed part of her third block because she was drying her clothes off with the bathroom dryer but her history teacher had just turned on a movie and gone to sleep so she didn’t think she had been missed.

Still, at the end of the day, instead of going to the ice rink as soon as the last bell rang, she was leaning up against the walls with the three others from earlier, waiting for their detention.

“You’ve all met, I trust?” Randall said. She turned to them with a smirk. “Well, enjoy your little outing” and walked away, leaving the five of them standing in her wake.

Dr. Oliver sighed and took off his glasses. “So, you guys like museums?”

The five of them squeezed themselves into Dr. Oliver’s jeep as he headed out of town. Julie sent a brief text to her brother explaining the situation and that she would call him when she could, and another to her coach who had grudgingly transferred rinks with her to Reefside who was Not Happy about her having to miss practice.

“Woah look at that T-rex!” Ethan exclaimed as they drove past a giant statue of a dinosaur that marked the apparent entrance to the museum.

They all piled out of the vehicle and started walking up, but there was a chain with a sign reading “Sorry, we’re closed” blocking off the entrance.

“That’s weird,” Dr. Oliver said.

“Oh well,” the soccer guy, who Julie learned was named Conner, said. “No museum for us.”

The other girl, Kira, replied. “Great. Let’s go home.”

“I’ll tell you what,” Dr. Oliver said, interrupting. “Why don’t you guys have a look around the grounds? If any of you guys find anything prehistoric, I’ll cancel detention for the rest of the week.”

“Sweet,” Ethan replied.

“I’m down,” Julie said with a smile.

Dr. Oliver nodded. “I’m going to see if I can find somebody who can tell us when they’re opening up.” He turned towards the building and they took that as the cue to turn around themselves and walk away.

“So let me get this straight,” Conner started. “They have a club, just for computers?”

* * *

“Hey did you guys ever hear the story of the guy who was hiking up here and fell in a giant sinkhole?”

Julie turned to Ethan very slowly, “I’m sorry a what now?”

“Must have missed that one,” Kira said as she rolled her eyes.

“Come on, it was all the urban legend web sites,” Ethan added. “Julie, surely you saw it?”

She snorted, “Ethan, I’m not from here. I’ve been in Reefside for two weeks – I don’t even know where the movie theater is, much less knowing a bunch of random urban legends.”

“Dude, you know this isn’t computer club, right?” Conner said, his hands in his pockets.

“Oh I guess you’re too big and bad to surf the web,” Ethan snarked at him. “Well, what do you do in your spare time?” Julie made eye contact with Kira and they both rolled their eyes.

Boys are always the same, no matter where they are.

“Me?” Conner replied. “I go out with girls. You know, they’re the ones at school that smell really good with the long hair and the makeup.”

“Oh, it’s like that, is it?” Ethan said angrily, putting a hand on his arm as if to stop him and square up.

“Yeah. It’s like that,” Conner said. “Isn’t it Ice Princess?”

Julie startled as he looked directly at her. “That’s Ice Queen to you, Ball Boy.” She flipped her ‘long, nice smelling hair’ or, whatever it was he said, and pushed to the front of the group.

“Whatever,” Kira said as she started walking forward.

Ethan sighed. “All I’m trying to do is give you guys the heads-up. Stuff happens out here. Just don’t come crying to me when you fall in a giant sinkhole-“

The earth fell out from beneath their feet and they landed in a pile in a cave system beneath the ground.

Julie slowly pushed herself up, groaning and praying that the fall didn’t aggravate old injuries that had just finished healing. “Where are we?”

“Underground, obviously,” Kira replied snarkily. “Did you hit your head again?”

“Who do you think-“ she started, pushing herself up and about to lunge for the other girl before Conner grabbed her shoulder and held her back.

“You guys stay here where it’s safe,” he said. “I’ll climb up and come back with help.”

“I’m not staying here with _her_ ,” Julie spit, but Conner didn’t pay her any attention as he pushed them aside and started trying to scale the cave walls, only to fall and land on his back when a rock crumbled under his hand.

Ethan snorted, “Back already?” but bent down to help him up.

“Maybe there’s another way out,” Kira suggested.

“What do you want us to? Walk through these apparently unstable caves underneath Reefside and hope we don’t die?” Julie asked.

Kira rolled her eyes and started walking forward, “Do you have a better idea, Princess?”

Ethan held her back from attacking the other girl this time, but started pulling her forward with them all the same. He and Conner stood between the two girls to keep them separated.

It wasn’t long before Kira started to sing, her voice echoing through the cave.

“Freak you out, freak you out, freak you out-“

“Babe, can you keep it down? I’m trying to stay focused here.” Conner interrupted.

Julie snorted as she thought Kira was about to come _unglued_. “Did you just call me ‘babe?’”

She turned to her and Ethan, “Did he just call me ‘babe?’”

Ethan shrugged quickly, “I don’t know. I wasn’t listening. I’m still grooving to your tune.”

Kira stormed to the front of the pack, leaving Ethan and Julie in the back, looking at the rocks for any sign of _anything_ that could possibly get them out.

“This is ridiculous,” Julie muttered. “I just want to go _home_.” Screw Reefside, screw detention, screw her mother saying ‘it’s for the best.’ She just wanted to go back home.

They continued to walk, trying not to step over each other as the cave kept getting tighter and tighter. Julie took up the back of the line and tried not to constantly look over her shoulder, she only _thought_ that there was something behind her there couldn’t actually be-

“This screams ‘Jurassic Park’ to me,” she heard Kira say. The four of them gathered around an entire dinosaur _skeleton_ just chilling against the cave walls.

“This will get us out of detention forever,” Conner said with a laugh. He went to grab it to bring it back to Dr. Oliver.

“Do you think you should-“

“How _else_ are we going to prove that we saw it?”

“Girls, please, just-”

Conner pulled on the jaw of the dinosaur and the wall opened up.

“Oh God,” Julie muttered. “This is some murderer’s hide away and this is where we die.”

“Woah!” Ethan exclaimed, walking in. The others followed and her only choice was to follow them into the creepy Murder Cave or say out in the Murder Cave Hallway so Julie stuck with the numbers and followed.

The room that the wall opened into was well lit. The walls themselves were smooth stone, not like the cave walls that they had been using to navigate. The lights that were placed throughout the room had a three-pronged foot decorating them.

“I could do a _crazy_ music video in here,” Kira said looking around.

“Whoa,” Connor started. “This must be, like, the mother ship for you, dude.” He patted Ethan on the shoulder.

The other guy was looking around in awe. “Normally, I’d be insulted,” he said. “But when you’re right, you’re right.”

“Okay great. Love it. The Murder Cave is cool. Can we please get out of here?” Julie asked, holding her arms tightly to herself.

“What, scared?” Kira retorted.

“No, I’m perfectly happy with the fact that we fell into a _sinkhole_ into a series of _caves_ that run who knows how far under this _stupid_ town and we don’t know how we’re going to out,” Julie snarked. “Yes I’m scared. Someone obviously spends a lot of time here and-“

“Yo, don’t touch that!”

Julie jolted out of her diatribe and looked over to see Conner about to touch a stone inside of a smoking rock sitting on a table in the middle of the room.

“Why not?” He replied to Ethan.

“You really are taking this ‘dumb jock’ thing to a whole new level,” Ethan said. Kira and Julie walked over to see what they were arguing about.

Inside the smoking rock were four stones, a red, a blue, a yellow, and a pink. The pink one was actually really pretty and Julie’s fingers twitched towards it.

“Look,” Connor started. “I have sat through enough lame science classes to know _that_ thing looks fully prehistoric, and if I don’t have to miss practice-“

“I hate to agree with him,” Kira added, “really, I do, but I already missed one rehearsal.”

Julie shuddered, “Oh great we’re talking about taking someone’s murder rocks or something to get out of detention this is insane.”

“Look Princess you don’t have to take one,” Conner said. “But while you’re stuck in detention doing who knows what, _we’ll_ be living our lives.”

Julie bit her lip but joined the other three as they slowly reached into the smoking rock. Her hands closed around the pink stone just as it started to glow.”

“Well,” Kira said the yellow stone she was holding to started to glow as well. “What are they?”

“I can go online later and see if I can find out,” Ethan said as he turned the glowing blue rock in his hands.

Conner snorted, the red rock illuminating his face. “You? In front of a computer? Wait, let me put on my surprised face.”

Ethan looked up at him, “You know, ten years from now, when your hairline’s receding and you’re playing pickup soccer in the park because your dreams of turning pro never _quiet_ worked out, I’ll have my own multibillion-dollar software business. Yeah.”

Julie smiled, “Remind me to introduce you to my brother – I think you’d get along.” Ethan smiled back at her.

Kira, still holding her rock, turned away and started walked towards the entrance to the creepy cave room.

“Where are you going?” Ethan asked.

“I don’t want to think about what kind of a freak lives in a place like this and-“

“So now you want to acknowledge the fact that this is definitely a Murder Cave and we’re basically stealing something from a psychopath who-“

“-I sure don’t want to be here when it gets home,” Kira said and completely ignored Julie’s interruption. The other girl gripped the pink rock tighter in her hand thought about _chucking_ it at the other girl hard enough to give _her_ a brain injury.

“Right behind ya,” Conner said, pocketing the stone. Ethan grabbed onto Julie’s arm and started pulling her behind them.

“Come on Princess you can complain later.”

“Don’t call me Princess.”

* * *

Surprisingly, they only had to walk for about fifteen more minutes until natural light started to filter in through the cave.

“This way!” Ethan exclaimed taking off at a run.

The others followed him and emerged out of a cliff face that was surrounded by dead moss and green ferns.

“Finally,” Julie said as the sunlight filtered through the tree canopy. She took a deep breath of non-recycled cave air and let it out before followed the three other teenagers as they traipsed up the hill.

“Does anyone have a compass?” Ethan asked as he looked around.

Connor sighed, “Well, I was going to bring one.” Ethan turned to look at him and he immediately shut up.

Suddenly, Julie heard a roar and felt her hair blow back. She started looking around, panicked.

“What was that?” Ethan asked. So she hadn’t imagined it. Great.

“The wind?” Kira suggested.

“That ain’t the wind,” Ethan answered. There was another roar. “As much as we’d like it to be, it ain’t.”

A green light followed by bolts of thunder dropped down right in front of them. Julie let out a scream as, when it cleared, there were monstrous looking creatures with _talons_ for _hands_ surrounded them on all sides.

“Don’t. Move,” Conner said as he stood very still.

“Great idea,” Kira said through clenched teeth. “Make it easy for them.”

“New plan-“ Ethan started.

“RUN!” Julie screamed as she took off towards one of the gaps that the monsters had left. She didn’t look to see if the others OR the monsters started following her – she wasn’t going to take that chance.

Conner and Ethan ran in front of her and she watched them jump over a crevice in the ground. She pushed on her back legs just as if she were doing a jump on her skates and cleared it easily, but Kira who was behind her, crashed into the side of it and rolled down.

“Kira!” Julie shouted. The boys ran back over to them and between the three of them they were able to pull her out of the ravine just in time as a monster landed right where she had been.

They kept running and Julie watched from the corner of her eye as Kira tripped, she stopped, ready to turn back to help the other girl when she opened her mouth and let out a terrifyingly loud _scream_ that blew the approaching monsters back.

“Quick help her up.”

“What _was_ that?” Ethan asked. Julie was gobsmacked too, still hearing the residual ringing in her ears from the girl’s scream.

“I have no idea,” Kira answered. The yellow stone she had been holding earlier started to glow again and she took it out of her pocket – right as the monsters started to run for them again.

Without thinking, they took off in four different directions.

Julie ran through the trees as fast as she could, but it didn’t take long until six of the monsters surrounded her. One started forward as if to grab her, but she ran forward and started to slide underneath it’s legs, but suddenly appeared five feet away from them as if by magic.

The pink rock in her hand started to glow again and the vision of some robotic creature surrounded by lava popped into her mind.

She was jolted out of her reverie as another monster came running straight at her.

“Hopefully watching all of those karate movies with Jay sunk in,” she muttered as she punched out and knocked one back, before immediately ducking a punch another one sent her.

An idea came to mind and she spun around as if she were on the ice and her kick swept three of the monsters off of their feet. She hurriedly stood up, just to lunge out of the way as a monster started to punch her, only for it to punch it’s friend.

While they were down, Julie started running in the directions where the others were starting to gather.

“Over here!” Conner called out. All four of them joined back up, holding their rocks that were still slightly glowing in their hands.

“How much do I love detention?” Ethan asked.

The four of them were extremely out of breath and suddenly-

“Hey!” Julie looked up and saw Dr. Oliver running at them. She quickly shoved her stone in the pocket of her jacket and watched at the others did the same just as their teacher got up to them.

“Are you guys all right?”

She thought about literally telling him everything that had happened since he sent them off to ‘find something prehistoric’ and how they were almost murdered except for the shiny rocks they had found in a random Murder Cave underneath Reefside, but Ethan beat her to the punch.

“Yeah. Couldn’t be better.”

“Nothing out of the ordinary happened?”

Again, the magical glowing rocks, the monsters with talons for hands, Julie suddenly _teleporting_ out of the way-

“Nah,” Ethan started. “Just your routine hike in the woods. Lots of furry little creatures.”

“And a few scaly ones,” Kira muttered under her breath.

“So-“ Conner said, drawing attention away from Kira. “Did you get into the dino exhibit?”

Dr. Oliver sighed, “No, uh, they’re still working the kinks out. We better get you guys back, come on.” He turned around and started leading the four of them out of the woods and back to what was hopefully civilization.

“Don’t you guys think we should tell him?” Kira asked, stressed.

“I don’t know about you,” Ethan started, “but I’ve got over a thousand sci-fi DVDs. You want to know how many times the dude with the superpowers ends up in some freaky government lab lying on a table with wires in his head?”

“Even I know that,” Conner added.

“Are you guys coming?” Asked Dr. Oliver as they had fallen back. The four of them looked at each other before following him out and back to his jeep.

* * *

They made it back to the school and grabbed their bags. Dr, Oliver declared detention over and that they were done for the week.

Honestly, Julie didn’t think he believed them even for a second, but she wasn’t about to look a gift house in the mouth.

“Okay,” Conner said. “So we all agree. No one talks about this to anyone, no matter what.”

“I can do better than that,” Kira said, moving to stand in front of them. She pulled the yellow rock out of her pocked and thrusted it into Conner’s hand. “Just forget I was here, and I’ll do the same.”

“Wait, how come he gets it?” Ethan asked.

Kira rolled her eyes. “Well, here.” She plucked it out of Conner’s hand and placed it in Ethan’s. “Happy now?”

“Do you really think you should-“

“What do you mean, Princess?”

Julie sighed. “If you’d let me finish- do you really think you should walk away? What if this was something big? What if the rocks like, did something to us?”

“Like what?” Ethan asked.

“Well you said it in the woods,” Julie said. “What if we got superpowers or something? It’s either that or those monsters were a group hallucination and-“

“You know what? I give up!” Kira let out, interrupting Julie _again_. She turned and started to storm away.

Julie started to go after her, but Conner grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. “Let her go, she’ll cool down.”

“Yeah, besides. I think your ride is here,” Ethan said. Julie looked around and saw her brother’s fancy car sitting in the parking lot, thankfully he had not seen her yet.

“Wait no-,“ Conner started. The three of them turned to see those same monsters from before surround Kira. They started to run towards them, only for the monsters _and_ Kira to disappear into a flash of green light, leaving behind nothing but her backpack.

“She’s gone!”

* * *

Julie hopped into the back of Conner’s car after telling her brother she was going to hang out with some friends. He was too stunned by her quick “Hi, gotta go, bye” to really say anything but hopefully he’d assume that everything was okay.

“Okay, so where are we going,” Conner asked as he peeled around a turn.

“Dr. Oliver’s!” Ethan replied.

“What’s he gonna do?” Julie yelled. “He’s a teacher!”

“He’s a dinosaur guy,” Ethan said. “These things are dinosaurs, sort of.”

Conner sighed, “Alright. So where does he live?”

Ethan pecked around on his sidekick a bit before coming up with an answer. “1992 Valencia Road.”

Conner nodded. “Valencia Road, wait, that’s like, way out in the middle of the woods.”

“Just go!”

Julie held on tightly as Conner stepped on the gas and started driving even faster.

It didn’t take long before they had reached Valencia Road and even less time after that before Conner parked in front of a nice, two story house literally in the middle of the forest.

They got out and ran up to the front door, passing a wooden tableful of archeological equipment and crates of tarps and shovels. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.

Conner and Julie started looking in the windows, seeing if they could see anybody throughout the house as Ethan knocked on the door.

“Knock again,” Conner said. Ethan did, but still no one came.

“Now what?” Julie asked. Conner walked up and pushed on the door and it slowly opened, revealing the inside of the house. “Well that’s creepy.”

“What are you doing?” Ethan asked as Conner made to walk inside.

“Why would he leave it unlocked?”

“It’s not like he has neighbors,” Julie added.

Conner snorted, “What, you never heard of the three bears?” He pushed past them and walked inside the house.

“Is that the last book you read?” Ethan asked after him before looking at Julie and following him in.

Julie took a deep breath and followed inside after them.

“Wow it looks… frighteningly normal in here,” she said as they walked through the hallway.

Conner poked his head into a room with wood-paneled walls and a lot of books and old pictures hanging on the walls.

“Dr. Oliver!” he called.

“Hello?” Ethan asked.

“Man check it out,” Julie turned as Conner started walking over to a model of a Trex. He went to grab onto its jaw, but she slapped his hand away.

“Hey, remember what happened the last time you did that?” Ethan said.

Conner continued to reach for it, “Dude, the guy’s a teacher, not-,“ he pulled on the jaw and what had looked like an ornamental rug lifted up and revealed a staircase. “-Batman.”

The boys made to go down it, but Julie reached out to grab them.

“I don’t think this is a good idea guys,” she said.

“Come on Julie, we need to find him and maybe he can help us find Kira,” Ethan urged. Julie sighed and nodded, following down the stairs after them.

Back into the creepy murder basement they had left only a couple of hours before.

“This is the same place,” Ethan said.

“Are you freaking out?” Conner asked.

“How is that even a question?” Julie added. “The entrance to the secret Murder Cave where we got our Magic Rocks is in our science teacher’s house.”

“What she said,” Ethan said. “I’d have to say I am.”

The three of them looked around, really realizing it was the same place.

“If you’re looking for extra credit,” Julie let out a shriek as she jumped and turned around to see Dr. Oliver staring at them. “You’re in the wrong place.”


	2. Day of the Dino, Part 2

“If you’re looking for extra credit,” Julie let out a shriek as she jumped and turned around to see Dr. Oliver staring at them. “You’re in the wrong place.”

The three of them looked at each other in shock, afraid to be the first one to say anything. They had, technically, committed a crime by breaking and entering.

Also theft. Definitely don’t forget the theft.

Ethan spoke up first, “Dr. O, before you go off, can we explain why we’re here?”

The teenagers had started trying to move out of the way, but Dr. Oliver wasn’t having any of it, turning with them to keep them in his line of sight like a predator. Julie frantically looked around as he slowly cut them off from the staircase they had used to come down into the teacher’s creepy basement where he was _definitely_ going to murder them.

“Dude,” Conner started, “he’s just going to laugh when we tell him.”

“Seriously,” Julie added. “It’s not like anything that happened was in any kind of realm of ‘normal.’”

“It’s the truth,” Ethan insisted. “He’ll believe us.”

“All right.”

“If you say so,” Julie said, turning to look at their teacher who hadn’t relaxed in the slightest. She took a deep gulp of air.

“Kira’s gone,” Conner said.

“She got taken by these weird-looking dinosaur things,” Ethan explained.

Julie spoke up, “They literally _came out of nowhere_ and snatched her.”

She watched as Dr. Oliver’s face muscles started to relax, as if he were thinking on what they said.

“He doesn’t look convinced,” Conner muttered to the other two.

Dr. Oliver sighed.

“They’re called Tyranno Drones,” the man said as he turned around. Those things had a _name_? A name that he apparently _knew_?

Who was Dr. Oliver anyway?

“And you know that because…?” Ethan asked.

“I helped create them.”

“Oh God, here we go,” Julie whined. Conner lightly slapped her on the shoulder.

Trying to relieve some of the tension, Ethan asked, “Oh, class project?”

“It’s a long story,” Dr. O answered. “For now, we gotta figure out what they want with Kira.”

“It might have something to do with-“ Julie started, trying to get the guys on board.

“Oh yeah,” Conner finished. “It might be because of these.”

The three of them pulled the magic rocks out of their pocket that they had technically stolen from this lab only a couple of hours ago.

Julie watched as Dr. Oliver’s face sunk.

Ethan handed the man the yellow gem that Kira had taken, that Kira had placed in his hands seconds before she was kidnapped by the, what were they, Tyranno Drones?

“We’re so sorry Dr. Oliver,” Julie said, biting her lip. “We didn’t know they were yours.”

“How were we supposed to know those things had, like, superpowers, and those lizard dudes were going to come looking for them?” Conner insisted.

“Well,” Dr. Oliver started. “I guess it isn’t exactly something you see every day.” Julie let out a sigh of relief.

“Sort of like a science teacher with the ruins of an ancient civilization under his house?”

“That has access from who knows how many of the creepy caves that run underneath the city,” Julie added. “No offense, Dr. O. I’m not calling your basement? Yeah. I’m not calling your basement creepy.”

“But that’s exactly what you said earli-,” Conner started before Julie smacked his arm, telling him to hush.

“Like, not that this isn’t all really cool,” Conner said as he rubbed at the spot where she had hit him, “but, seriously, dude, you gotta come clean.”

Dr. Oliver held up his hands placatingly, “Okay, first of all, don’t call me “dude.” Second, as hard as this may seem, you three need to forget all about this.” He made eye contact with the three of them, even Ethan who had wandered off and started looking at the computers and other things that were in Dr. Oliver’s basement. “I’ll find Kira.”

As he turned to walk away, Conner sped off at superhuman speeds to stand in front of him. Julie looked over at Ethan who shrugged his shoulders. They hadn’t exactly talked about what powers they had all gotten from the magic rocks.

Dr. Oliver sighed again, “The gem’s powers are already starting to bond with you.” He looked around at Julie and Ethan. “With all of you, I assume.”

“You can tell us all about it now,” Conner started, “or at my next parent-teacher conference.”

“Which will probably be soon,” Julie added. “He does seem the type to have them pretty regularly.”

* * *

Dr. Oliver led them back to his jeep and they all jumped in. Julie didn’t know where they were going, but, just in case their teacher did get murder-happy she thought that, between the three teenagers with their powers, they’d be able to take him.

Still, it wasn’t easy to trust the man as she strapped herself into the back seat.

“When you said you helped create those tyranno-whatevers, you were just kidding, right?” Ethan asked.

“They weren’t supposed to be used like this,” Dr. Oliver said. “Someone has modified their programming.

“A few years back I was doing research on combining dinosaur DNA with technology,” he started. “My partner, a scientist named Anton Mercer-“

“The rich guy who disappeared years ago?” Ethan interjected.

“-Yep. Shortly after Mercer disappeared, our lab was attacked. All of our research was destroyed – or at least I thought it was.”

Conner shook his head, “And the guy who did this? He’s back?”

“He calls himself Mesogog,” their teacher said as he pulled to a stop at a stop sign. Julie’s face curled up in disgust.

“What kind of name is ‘Mesogog?’” she asked.

“And you think he’s after the gems,” Conner said, louder to drown her out. She resisted the urge to smack him again.

“Looks like it,” Dr. Oliver said, resigned.

Ethan rubbed his face, “This is all totally fascinating, but how is it helping us find Kira?” Julie nodded, agreeing. She may not like the other girl but this became a whole new world a couple of hours ago and Kira was all alone.

“I mean, she’s not just going to fall out of the sky and land right in front of us-“

The weird green flash of light appeared over their car as if Ethan spoke it into existence and Kira did, in fact, fall out of it and land on the hood of the jeep.

“Well that was easier than I thought it would be,” Julie said as the four in the jeep and Kira, on the hood, all stared blankly at each other before they threw off their seatbelts and got out of the car.

Julie joined Conner and Ethan in running up to Kira.

“How did you _do_ that?” Ethan asked, looking up at the other girl in awe.

“I have no idea,” Kira said. Conner and Ethan reached up to pull her down and Julie couldn’t help but to look to see if she was injured anywhere. “One minute, I’m being chased by Franken-lizard through this creepy lab, and the next thing I know, I’m a hood ornament!”

Julie snorted, at least she had a sense of humor about being kidnapped by monsters.

“Invisiportals,” Dr. Oliver said.

“Let me guess, you invented those too?” Julie replied. Dr. Oliver looked away, not making eye contact with her. “Of course you did.”

Kira shook the two boys off of her, “Whatever. Next time, I’m calling a cab.”

She looked around at them before asking, confusedly, “What are you guys doing here?”

“We came to rescue you,” Ethan answered.

“Nice job,” Kira scoffed. “Way to show up when I don’t need you anymore.”

“Hey! We were trying,” Julie interjected. “Sorry you saved yourself-“

“-You sure about that?” Conner said, pointing off into the distance where a herd of Tyranno Drones had suddenly appeared, led by what looked like a reject from a Renaissance festival carrying an honest-to-god sword and shield.

The four students and their teacher all spread out, ready to fight, as the group of monsters strolled up to them as if it was a normal day and they were all normal people and not a bunch of science-fair rejects about to try and murder a group of students.

“Mesogog find a new goon to do his dirty work?” Dr. Oliver asked.

“You are not fit to speak my master’s name,” came a robotic-sounding voice out of the Ren Faire guy. “Come with me peacefully or suffer the consequences.”

“I’m going to have to say ‘no,’” Dr. Oliver said.

As if on cue, the drones reared back in unison with the other guy(?) as he pulled back his sword and they ran forward to attack.

Dr. Oliver led a couple of the drones and the suited thing away as the teenagers pulled the rest of the drones apart into smaller groups.

Julie had four all to herself and she smirked at them, trying to calm herself. “Okay,” she said as she held up her fists. “Bring it.”

Two of them lunged to her and she shot out her right arm, giving one a solid punch to the chest as the other made a run for her and she lifted her knee up to jab him in the solar plexus. Another one reached for her and managed to grab on, but she dislodged from his grab and appeared directly behind him, kicking him in the back.

The fourth one started to run at her, but she popped out of place again and landed, squatting in front of it with her leg out and made it trip, falling into one of the others. She stood up quickly kicked one solidly in the chest, knocking it down.

“How’d you like that?”

She ran away from the fallen monsters, joining back up with the others who had defeated their own groups of drones.

“Tell your master Dr. Oliver’s back,” their teacher said with a smirk.

“I will inform him this battle is over,” the robot monster thing started, “but the war has only just begun!”

He pulled his shield up and him and the remaining drones disappeared into a flash of green, another Invisiportal.

“That’s the best he could do?” Ethan asked, outraged.

“Let’s get out of here,” Dr. O said. “It’s getting late. I don’t want your parents to worry.”

“I bet you don’t,” Conner said. “You might have to explain something.”

Dr. Oliver sighed, “I’ll fill you in tomorrow after school, I promise.”

“Oh god how did I forget about _school_?” Julie groaned. Ethan pat her shoulder before lightly pushing her along.

* * *

“See what I said about ‘never saying never’ Jules? Look! You made friends.”

Julie looked up at her brother, exhausted as the day’s events were finally catching up to her. She had made it back to her brother’s house just in time for the pizza man to drop off their usual order, since neither her or her brother were what one would call ‘good’ cooks.

“I know,” she said with a grin. “It’s just unexpected is all. I didn’t even think-“

“Well, I’m the one that thinks Little Pain,” he said with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes, “Oh hush, Big Brain.” Julie yawned and stretched. “Did Coach get in touch with you?”

He sighed. “Yeah, she’s not super happy. But I told her your injury was acting up again so she said to take it easy for the rest of the week and you could start back on Sunday.”

A phantom pain rolled through her knee at the remark and Julie resisted the urge to rub it. It had been over a year, after all. It barely hurt anymore. She was honestly surprised it hadn’t acted up today while fighting the monsters.

She looked around the cozy house and saw all of her and her brother’s achievements strewn about. Their parents had always been rather totalitarian and didn’t see a point in displaying anything other than trophies or degrees. There were no family portraits or cute elementary school pictures lining the walls.

Why would they when their children were both prodigies in their own right?

Her own bronze medal was tacked to the wall and she looked at it longingly. She had only been fifteen when she went to Salt Lake City for the 2002 Olympics and she was lucky enough to podium – one of the youngest there other than a couple of the Russian figure skaters.

Two weeks after getting back home, everything fell apart.

* * *

The school bell rang the next morning and the four of them walked into first period science together, only to separate and sit at different tables in a move to try and not draw attention to themselves.

However, Cassidy had managed to grab Kira at the door and pull her aside. Julie rolled her eyes and sat into her spot next to Ethan from yesterday. Conner was sitting at the table across from theirs and they all made eye contact as the other girl was being questioned.

“-And what about those creatures that appeared out of nowhere and attacked you in broad daylight?”

Julie could see that Kira was finally tired of it as she pulled her arm out of Cassidy’s tight grip, “Look, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Cassidy looked like she was about to argue. “But as you can see, I’m just fine.” Kira smirked. “But you? You look kind of, uh, pasty?”

“Pasty? Are you serious? I _hate_ fluorescent lighting,” the other girl complained. Julie snorted into her hands and Ethan jabbed her in the side to get her to quieten down.

Dr. Oliver walked in and, once he had gotten Cassidy to sit down, he started class.

“Okay, so who can tell me where it all began-“ he fell silent as the entire room started to shake.

Julie let out a shriek and tried to hold onto the table to keep from falling over as it went completely pitch black in the room. She couldn’t see her own hand in front of her face even if she tried. Eventually, the schools emergency lighting came on as soon as the sudden very California-like earthquake stopped and almost all of the students in the class ran to the window to see what was going on, pointing at the dark sky and the lightning outside.

The intercom blared on and Principal Randall’s voice came through. _“Everyone remain calm. The Mayor has declared a state of emergency. Please report to the front of the school for immediate dismissal. Again, remain calm.”_

The rest of the class filed out but the four stayed behind. Julie didn’t think it was the smartest thing to let school out as there was apparently something going on, but she wasn’t in charge of making the decisions.

“Dr. O, now would be a good time to have that little chat,” Kira said as their teacher came out from behind his desk to join them.

“We’re out of time,” he said. “If Mesogog revived the Biozords, we gotta act fast. Come with me.” And then he ran out before they could even try to argue.

“What’s the worst that could happen?” Ethan asked.

“Please don’t say that,” Julie insisted as they ran out after the man.

* * *

“So these mechanical dinosaurs,” Kira started as they all filed into Dr. O’s basement. “They’re your friends?”

“Biozords,” Dr. Oliver started. “Fusion-powered replicants using actual dinosaur DNA for their neurofunctions.”

Julie resisted the urge to run a hand through her hair as Ethan spoke up, stating the obvious.

“Wait, let me guess. You helped build them.”

The man sighed, “I’m afraid so. But right now, we- I mean, _you_ have to tame them.”

“Us?” Julie asked. “Why not you? They’re yours, right?”

“I’ll BBL if it’s all the same to you,” Ethan added.

“What’s that mean?” Dr. Oliver asked, confused.

Ethan went to turn and walk away as he said, “Be back later.” But Dr. Oliver stopped him.

“You can do this,” he said to them. “But you won’t have to do it alone.”

He walked away from them when it looked like neither Ethan or any of the others would sneak away and leave whenever his back was turned.

“Ever since I found the dino gems, I’ve had these waiting, in case I ever needed to harness their powers.”

“Into what?” Kira asked.

Dr. Oliver opened a shiny suitcase that had been resting on the table, revealing that inside there were four devices the same color as the rocks they stole from him yesterday.

“Dino morphers,” Dr. Oliver said. “Use these to become Power Rangers.”

“I’m sorry,” Julie insisted. “Power Rangers? I thought those were only in Angel Grove? And like, years ago at that.”

“How do you know that?” Dr. Oliver couldn’t help but ask.

She shook her head, “I _grew up_ there. I was, I think, five when they first showed up?”

“I gotta sit down,” Ethan said as he sank down onto the ground, overwhelmed.

“Breathe dude,” Conner said as he tried to help him down.

“We can’t be Power Rangers?” Kira said, aghast. “Aren’t you supposed to fly or have superhuman strength and stuff like that?”

Dr. Oliver looked smug as he replied, “You do.”

“Oh yeah,” Kira said. “I forgot.”

Julie bit her lips as Dr. Oliver continued to explain.

“Your gems are from the asteroid that crashed into the Earth millions of years ago, wiping out the entire dinosaur population,” he said. “When I found them, I recognized their power and hid them so they wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands.”

“How do you know _these_ are the right hands?” Conner asked.

“The gems are yours,” the man said. “You didn’t choose them. They chose you.”

The pink gem in her pocket started to feel heavy at the implication and Julie frowned.

“Can’t they unchoose us?” Kira asked.

“They’ve already bonded with your DNA,” Dr. O explained. “That’s what’s giving you your powers.”

The turned around and watched him as he went up to the computer.

“So if they already bonded with us, how come Mesogog and his creeps are still after them?” Ethan asked.

Dr. Oliver sighed and walked back down to them while Julie steeled herself because she didn’t like where this trail of conversation was going.

“The only way these powers can be taken away is if you’re destroyed.”

“Of course it is,” Julie said with a groan.

“Okay,” Ethan added. “For future reference, that’s not a great selling point.”

Conner scoffed. “Look, all I know is, I don’t remember _asking_ to be a superhero.”

“The gems wouldn’t have bonded to you if you didn’t already have something inside you that could handle the power,” Dr. O said. He walked back over to the suitcase with the four morphers inside. “Please.”

The four of them looked at each other before reaching for the morpher that corresponded to the gems they found yesterday. Julie gripped the pink one tightly.

“So now what?” Ethan asked. “Do we need some kind of secret password or command?”

“All you have to do is say “Dino Thunder, Power Up,” Dr. Oliver explained. “And you’ll be transformed. You’ll know what to do.”

“How will we know what to do?” Julie asked. “I can _assure_ you that this is all new and I don’t think-“

Conner scoffed again, interrupting her. “Dino Thunder? What, did you come up with that?”

“I kind of like it!” Ethan said.

“You would. Ouch,” Conner rubbed his arm where Kira had pinched.

“Look,” Dr. O started. “I know you four are from different worlds, I get it – but you’re going to have to work together, or this will never happen. This won’t be easy, nobody knows that better than I do. But you’re going to have to believe in yourselves - because I believe in you.”

“Really?” Conner asked.

“Really.”

* * *

It didn’t seem like it was that long at all before the five of them were pulling up to an entire wreckage site in Dr. O’s jeep. Julie gulped as she saw the four giant dinosaurs towering above them – a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a Pterodactyl, a Triceratops, and a Stegosaurus.

“Okay this is it,” Dr. O said as they all started to get out of the vehicle.

“That must be them,” Conner said, looking up at them in horrified awe.

“Wow, good call, Conner,” Kira snarked.

“Yeah, way to state the obvious,” Julie added.

There was a loud buzzing and a small, red portal appeared, the Ren Faire reject from yesterday falling out of it and landing on it’s feet.

“You’ll have to get past me before you get those Zords,” it said.

“That’s the part I’m looking forward too,” Conner said with a smirk.

“You guys ready?” Ethan asked.

“Oh yeah.” “Let’s do this.”

“Ready?” Conner called, placing his morpher over his chest.

“Ready!” the other three called in unison, doing the same thing. They pushed the button at the bottom of the jaw on their morphers and brought their hands back.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up!”

Julie pushed the necessary button on the morpher and disappeared into what looked like an alternate universe. A white beam of light enveloped her, and she did a backflip. When she landed, she was clothed in a pink, spandex suit with white triangles along the seams and the three-footed design that was on the lights in Dr. Oliver’s lab emblazoned across her chest.

She blinked and her vision was partially obscured as a helmet fitted itself into place on her head.

And just like that, she was back in the real world

“Whoa!” she heard Ethan exclaim from inside of a blue suit.

“This totally rocks!” Kira added. Julie looked over and saw that they both had skirts attached to their suits.

“So you’re Power Rangers,” the Ren Faire reject said.

Julie jolted and got into position to fight.

“Call your weapons!” Dr. Oliver shouted. “They’re in your belt!”

“You got it Dr. O!” Conner called. “Whoa, check it out!”

Julie looked down and saw that the center of her belt was starting to glow brighter and brighter.

“Look! I got a Tyranno Staff!”

“I can come to grips with this. Ptera Grips!”

“Sweet! A Tricera Shield!”

“If you axe me, I think this is great. Stego Axe!”

The guy held up his hand and a bunch of Tyranno Drones appeared through an Invisiportal. Julie let out a shout and ran into the fray, holding her axe above her head.

She splintered off to the side with more of the Drones than she had ever faced before, but she felt courage running under her skin as she swung her axe with both hands, hitting two of them before backflipping back to avoid two more as they lunged for her. Julie stuck out the axe, and spun around, hitting the three Drones that had appeared around her before kicking out and getting another one, knocking it back.

One leaped for her, jumping over it’s fallen friend and she held up her axe, blocking its attack before spinning around and hitting him as if he were baseball, hitting him out of the way.

Two more jumped on her, grabbing her by the arms, but she kicked back – doing a backflip and knocking herself loose before kicking them both in the back, one at a time.

“Freeze!” She heard Ethan scream.

“You first!” Julie watched as the enemy shot out a blue beam of light that wrapped around him and _threw him_ across the parking lot.

“Ethan!” She and Kira screamed. The two of them and Conner ran over and stood in front of the fallen boy while he jumped up.

As soon as they were all standing, red beams of light shot out of the robot’s eyes, hitting them.

Julie let out a scream of pain as she fell over, clutching her ribs.

Once the smoke cleared, she heard Dr. O’s voice.

“Rangers! Combine your weapons.”

“Right!”

The four of them jumped up and shoved their weapons together, Julie kneeling underneath and holding it up with her shield while Ethan and Kira balanced from the sides as Conner stood behind it.

“Z-Rex Blaster! Ready, Fire!”

A bright beam of light shot out and hit the Ren Faire reject causing a bunch of sparks to shoot up as he was knocked back.

“Yeah!”

“We did it!”

“Look at us go!”

“You showed me your weapons,” it said as it stood up and stumbled away. “Now meet mine!” He disappeared into an Invisiportal as a loud caw from up above sounded, quickly followed by roars.

The four of them went and stood by Dr. Oliver and watched as a giant space ship appeared over the skyline and lasers shot out of it, hitting around them, knocking them forward from the force of the hits.

“Okay, how do we fight that?” Ethan asked as the five of them ran and hid behind Dr. O’s jeep.

“You gotta tame the Zords,” he said. “Concentrate. Your morphers will communicate your thoughts to them.”

“Let’s go!”

Julie joined the others as they ran over to where the Zords were.

“They’re huge!” Conner exclaimed.

“Calm down boy,” Ethan said, holding his hands up as if it were a dog and not a twenty stories tall dinosaur robot thing with a real dinosaur brain inside it’s shiny, robot body. “It’s all good.”

“Careful!” Kira shouted.

“That’s right,” he said into his morpher. “I’m your friend.” He held his morpher up and shouted, “Tricera Zord!” It flashed a light in unison with the Triceratops eyes and they watched as it shed it’s weird, dingey coating and was suddenly blue and white.

“It worked!”

“Yay!”

Julie watched as both Kira did the same thing.

“Ptera Zord! We can be friends, right?” her Ptera Zord turning yellow and flapping it’s wings. She nodded, holding her morpher high. Her turn.

“Stego Zord! I know we can do this! Together!”

She couldn’t help but smile from inside her mask as the familiar pink color that she was coming to know started overtaking the gross coating and as it roared, loud and proud, she felt her heart soar.

Now that three of the four were under control, it seemed like the Tyranno Zord – the biggest one – was going crazy. Julie watched as her Stego Zord reared up and avoided a swipe from the other Zord’s tail.

“Conner! The Tyranno Zord is out of control!” Ethan shouted.

“Do something!” Kira and Julie yelled at the same time. The Tyranno Zord picked up its foot and tried to stomp on Ethan’s Tricera Zord that happened to move out of the way, but it just turned around and swiped at all three with its tail and sent them flying!

“Come on!” Conner called. “I need you to work with me here!” He took a deep breath and held the arm with his morpher on it close to his chest before raising it high in the air. “Tyranno Zord!”

The Biozord tried to fight it, but Julie couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief as the metallic coating started to melt away and the bright red of the Zord started to show.

“Yes!” Conner shouted.

Julie, Ethan and Kira all ran over to him, ready to celebrate, as Dr. Oliver said, “Only one more thing to do. Bring ‘em together. You can do it.”

The four teenagers stood together, united, before turning towards, not just the Zords, but _their_ Zords. Their partners. Julie smiled under her helmet.

“Okay,” Conner started. “Let’s do it!”

As if by instinct, Julie and the others jumped up as high as they could and the Pink Ranger felt herself merge with her Zord, becoming one with it. She landed in a cloudy room as a giant sphere with controls appeared in front of her and she let out a little giggle at the absurdity of it all, but also at how _right_ it was.

“Logging in!” Conner said.

“I got it!” Julie called. The center console of her sphere started spinning as the object itself started to glow brightly.

“I’m in!” Ethan added.

“Me too!” Kira answered.

In unison, they all shouted, “Combine powers!”

While Julie couldn’t physically see what the MegaZord that their Zords had created, she could see it in her mind’s eye. Ethan’s Tricera Zord became the right arm while Conner’s Tyranno Zord became the torso and it’s tail became a drill as the left arm. Kira’s Ptera Zord formed the chest piece and the helmet while Julie’s Stego Zord formed the base and the legs, each with armored plates going down each limb.

“It worked!” they said, excitedly.

The four of them were in the same, clouded room now with their consoles in front of them and, all together, they turned towards the monster’s space ship as it started to fire lasers at, not just them, but the city around them.

“Now I’m mad,” Conner started, but was interrupted as the ship released two giant coils that wrapped around the arms of the Thundersaurus MegaZord and started pumping electricity through them and, by extension, into the Zord itself.

Julie stood firm as the lighting inside of the Zord itself started to flicker and she knew that the legs of the Zord locked into place with her.

“I’ve got us steady guys!” she said.

Conner turned to her and nodded.

“Time to head for the back of the net!” he said. The MegaZord started to run forward, it’s drill arm spinning, as they used the coils themselves as leverage to swing themselves up and over.

They all spotted the heart of the ship at the same time.

“Dino Drill! Engage!” Ethan shouted.

The drill stuck true and they tunneled through the space ship like a hot knife through butter until they came out the other side, completely unscathed as the ship burst into sparks and flames, before exploding into thousands of tiny pieces that rained down on the Zords and the city.

The four teenagers were silent for a moment before Kira let out the first ‘Whoop!’ and the rest followed. Julie couldn’t help but jump up and down in excitement as she cheered, throwing her arms up in celebration.

They had done it!

* * *

A few hours later after a small nap and a bite to eat, the four Rangers and Dr. Oliver were back in the lab underneath the teacher’s house. The suitcase that had originally held their morphers, which they had put their morphers back into following the battle, now held four cuff bracelets with their colors emblazoned on a gem.

Dr. Oliver held the suitcase out, “Keep these bracelets with you at all times,” he said. “They’ll access your morphers when you need them. And you can use these to communicate with me, and with each other.”

Julie, the last in line, took hers and immediately put it on her wrist. The same feeling of security that she had felt with her morpher rushed through her.

“Dr. O,” Kira started. “I know you’re real smart and a science teacher and everything, but this is…well, I mean, how did you-“

“I’ll fill you in,” their teacher interrupted. “In time.”

“Speaking of time,” Ethan chimed in. “You think Mesogog’s going to stick around for awhile?”

Julie turned to Dr. Oliver as he answered, wondering the same thing. “Unfortunately, they always do.”

“They?” Conner asked.

“How many ‘theys', if you don’t mind me asking,” Julie added, concerned. Were they supposed to take care of all the others too?

Dr. O sighed. “I know this is a lot to take in-“

“That’s for sure,” Ethan interrupted.

“-Your lives have just changed in ways you probably couldn’t have imagined,” the man continued on as if he hadn’t said anything. “But if you work together, and remember you’re a _team_ , no one can defeat you. No one.”

Straightening her spine, Julie looked at the others in recognition. They were Power Rangers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I just wanted to post the first two chapters since it was two-part episode! I have the first 11 written so far so, hopefully, upload schedule goes pretty smoothly. Please by nice.


	3. Wave Goodbye

Julie sighed as she unlaced her ice skates, sweating despite the cold. Her week of rest after moving was finally over and she was back in training. Unfortunately, her coach had decided that the phrase ‘the early bird gets the worm’ was actually ‘the early figure skater gets the gold medal,’ which would officially explain why she had woken up at three in the morning to dance around and fall on a sheet of ice.

“I’ll see you tomorrow Jules!” her coach, a peppy woman named Theresa who had won numerous medals from many different competitions when she was younger, said. “Remember, bright and early!”

Julie smiled at her despite the exhaustion. “I’ll be here!”

“With bells on!” Theresa added with a demented smile that the teenager couldn’t help but laugh at.

“With bells on,” she replied, resigned. The older woman merely chuckled and waved goodbye as she did a lap around the rink before going up to greet what looked like a beginner’s figure skating class, filled with kids from the ages of what looked like 4 to 8.

The Pink Ranger, now _that_ was hard to get used to, smiled as she remembered herself at that age. Her brother had always been too busy with school and studying to play much with her, so, to keep her out of his hair, their parents had enrolled her into figure skating classes. It was delicate and befitting a lady, her mother would always say, despite the fact that Angel Grove had a thriving martial arts community that, at one time, she would have rather participated in instead.

Still, Julie thrived under the attention from her coaches and so no one was surprised when she started to podium as soon as she was old enough to compete.

She slung her bag over her shoulder and walked out, just as her phone rang. Julie shuffled all her bags and gear to one arm as she reached into the denim coat pocket to grab it.

“What’s up?” she answered.

 _“Hey Julie! I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for awhile,”_ Ethan said.

“I had practice,” she answered, concerned. “Is it super important? Is it...? You know…”

 _“Ranger business?”_ he asked. _“Nah, not really. But I need you to get to Hayley’s Cyberspace at the corner of Acorn and Jefferson as quick as you can, okay? Great. See you!”_

Before she could say anything else, the call ended, and she sighed.

Maybe she could stop for coffee on the way.

* * *

“-Julie! There you are!”

Julie smiled as she saw Kira and Conner already at Hayley’s Cyberspace and waiting out in front. She had been dreading walking into the new place alone, but it looked like the two of them were just as out of their depth as she was.

“Hey guys! You get a call too?”

Conner rolled his eyes. “Yep.”

“He said it was super important,” Kira added.

Julie rose her eyebrow as she followed the other two into the bright green building.

“What is this place anyway?” Kira asked.

“No clue,” Conner answered.

“It won’t hurt to check it out,” Julie added with a grin. The other two put their hands into their pockets and turned to walk in as she smiled and waltzed in behind them.

The main entrance led to a small hallway where Julie could see a set of double doors straight in front of them that read ‘Employees Only’ and another set of double doors, these ones red, to the immediate left. Kira pushed those and they opened into a brick-walled room. The music playing was loud, but not obnoxiously so and there were posters and art and string lights that decorated the walls.

“Wow,” Conner said. “You think he lives here?”

“I think he wishes he lived here,” Kira joked.

“I wish _I_ lived here,” Julie said. “Are those classic arcade games?”

“There they are!” they heard someone say. Julie turned to see Ethan walking up to them, no, _swaggered_ up to them. “My brother and sisters in crime,” he walked up closer to them before saying quieter, “-or at least crime-fighting.”

Julie snorted. “Where are we, Ethan?”

“Hayley’s Cyberspace, didn’t you read the sign?” He turned and gestured out as if he were showing something majestic. “Welcome to my world. What do you think?”

“Yeah I guess it’s kinda cool,” Conner said. “In a techno-retro-dorky sort of way.”

“You can do anything here,” Ethan interjected. “Game, chat online, listen to music, eat, drink!”

“Who came up with the idea for this?” Kira asked as she looked around. Julie also couldn’t help but gaze around in awe.

There was just so much to see it was hard to pick just _one_ thing to focus on before something else drew her attention away.

“That would be Hayley,” Ethan explained, pointing to a redheaded woman sitting at the counter. “She’s a techno legend. M.I.T. grad, programming genius. Got tired of working for big technology and decided to open up this place.”

“Good thing for you,” Kira said with a smirk.

“No lie.”

Conner wrapped an arm around Ethan’s shoulders, “Anyway, what’s so important?”

The Blue Ranger shrugged. “I just figured, hey, if we’re going to be saving the world together, I wanted you guys to see what I’m about.”

Conner scoffed. “Okay, whatever dude.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Julie said. “We’ll have to all go check out the rink next! Get you guys on some skates.”

Ethan backtracked, “I actually have a pretty severe fear of falling.”

“You’ll only fall a couple of feet,” Julie said with a laugh. “It’s not that bad.”

“Notice how she didn’t say we wouldn’t fall,” Kira added.

“Hey guys!” came a new voice. Julie turned to see Hayley, the woman who owned the place, walking up to them. “What can I get you?”

“I’ll just have an apple juice,” Kira said, confused.

Hayley waved her over to follow her, “Oh that’s easy. Kira right?”

“Yeah,” the Yellow Ranger confirmed, still confused. “How’d you know?”

“Oh, I’m all about information,” Hayley stated. “It’s my business. Now, you sing, don’t you?”

Kira’s face lit up, “Yeah! I do!”

“Great,” the other woman said. “How about this Friday, you and your band play here? We’ll call it an audition.”

To Julie, it looked like Kira had just been punched in the stomach and told she had won a million dollars at the same time and she couldn’t help but snort. “Well, yeah! I mean, that would be great.”

“All right,” Hayley said, “see you then.”

As she walked away, Ethan leaned up against the counter with a smug look on his face.

“Okay. I love her,” Kira stated. Julie let out a laugh.

“That’s Hayley,” Ethan explained. “There’s not one kid in here she hasn’t helped out somehow.”

“Hasn’t helped me,” Conner retorted as he leaned against the counter a few seats down.

As if by magic, Hayley reappeared with Kira’s juice, “Conner McKnight, the soccer player. I’m surprised you’re not at the open tryouts for the Reefside Wave.”

“Open tryouts?” Conner sputtered.

“Yeah,” Hayley confirmed. “At their practice field right now.”

“You’re kidding right?”

Hayley just smirked. “No.”

“You were saying?” Ethan chimed in. Conner looked between the two of them, stunned, but then actually realized what was said and pushed himself off the counter and ran towards the door.

“Good luck!” Julie called after him with a laugh.

“I gotta go too,” Kira said, standing up. “I need to put a set list together and restring my guitar.” She handed her apple juice to Julie before saying a quick, “Bye!” and running out as well.

Leaving Pink and Blue alone.

“Nothing like spreading the love,” Ethan said with a grin.

“Oooh me next,” Julie asked, looking around for Hayley as if she were going to descend from the heavens and give her something spectacular. But just as she caught sight of the red headed woman, their bracelets started to beep.

The two of them made eye contact before walking over to a somewhat secluded corner.

“Yeah Doc, you got Ethan and Julie,” Ethan said into his communicator. Julie leaned over Ethan’s shoulder as if she were looking at his computer, her curtain of hair hiding the view of him talking to his wrist. He nodded at her in thanks.

_“Can you guys meet me out at the end of Riverside Road in an hour?”_

“Yeah, sure, what’s up?” Ethan replied.

 _“Just be there and I’ll fill you in,”_ the two of them looked at each other, before standing up and grabbing their stuff.

“Is it just me,” Julie started as she took a swig of Kira’s apple juice, “or does he always sound super serious?”

“It’s not just you Princess,” Ethan replied. “Come on, I can drive. My dad let me borrow his car for the day.”

* * *

The two of them parked off to side of Reefside Road whenever they saw Dr. Oliver’s jeep. He was leaning against it waiting for them.

He was also wearing hiking boots and Julie sighed as she looked at her sneakers.

“Hey Dr. O,” Ethan said, getting out of the car. “What’s the sitch?”

The man looked confused. “The… sitch?”

“Yeah, like, the situation,” Ethan explained.

The older man shook off the lingo and motioned for them to follow him as he started towards the woods.

“After the island exploded,” the _what_ now, “some of my experiments were scattered all throughout this area.”

“I’m sorry,” Julie couldn’t help but add. “The island _exploded_? Which island?” Then a thought. “Were you _on_ it?”

“That’s not really the point Julie,” Dr. Oliver said. “But, technically, I wasn’t on it because I had just jumped off of it.”

She stopped in her tracks, stunned. Was her high school science teacher actually Indiana Jones, or was she just experiencing some kind of hallucination from whatever hippy-dippy energy bar her coach had given her this morning? Ethan, however, stayed on track – grabbing her arm to pull her over the forest floor to keep up with their teacher.

“This is nuts,” she muttered to him. The Blue Ranger just shrugged.

“You do have to admit it’s kind of cool though.”

They continued walking for a bit, the two teenagers only knowing to look for stuff that seemed out of the ordinary. Julie was about to give up when Dr. Oliver, who had been far ahead of them, called them over.

“There!”

The two Rangers hurried over the underbrush before kneeling next to their teacher and seeing what he saw.

Four somewhat glowing orbs were resting in, what looked like, a nest that an animal had built around them.

“What are they?” Ethan asked.

“Eggs,” Dr. O explained with a smile.

“Oh it’s cool,” Ethan said. “I just had lunch a couple hours ago.”

The man laughed, “No, we’re not going to eat them. We’re gonna hatch ‘em. Then? You’re going to ride ‘em.”

“What exactly is in these eggs,” Julie couldn’t help but ask. They were only slightly bigger than a softball and, she may be petite, but she knew that she couldn’t ride anything that came out of an egg that small.

“Maybe it’s all the quiet out here that’s got me hearing things,” Ethan said, standing up, “but I thought you just said we’re going to ride these.”

“I did,” Dr. O replied.

“Again, what is _in the eggs_ ,” Julie stressed.

Dr. O smirked and if he wasn’t her teacher, she would have sincerely thought about smacking it off of him. “Trust me guys, when these things are ready, they’re going to be a big help to us.”

Ethan sighed, “Okay Doc, whatever you say.” He bent down to pick up the blue one and Julie reached out and took the pink one, trying to not move it too much as if in fear that she’d break it.

Nobody wanted some kind of prehistoric omelet after all.

A tall, shadowy figure ran through the underbrush and the three of them stood up, shocked.

“You saw that, right?” Ethan asked.

“I’m personally hoping it was just a hallucination,” Julie helpfully added. The other two looked at her before looking back in the direction of the shadow.

“We have to protect the eggs, no matter what,” Dr. Oliver explained. He quickly put the rest of them in his satchel and put it over his shoulder. Julie could see his white knuckled grip and realizing how serious he was taking this.

“Who’d want to hurt them?” Ethan asked.

“I would.”

Julie, Ethan, and Dr. Oliver turned, startled at the new voice that hadn’t been there before. Standing against a tree was a woman with short, braided hair and a tattoo on her chin. She was wearing all leather and had a frankly, _comically large_ red sword on her belt.

“And I,” the Ren Faire reject from last week that Julie had _sworn_ had blown up with the ship stepped out from behind her. “I’m starting to have my doubts about your intelligence, Dr. Oliver.”

“-Hey!” Julie turned to see a Tyranno Drone trying to grab the backpack with the eggs in it, and overhearing the Reject yell “Attack!”

Julie watched as Ethan broke the drone from Dr. Oliver before turning and being met with a wall of Tyranno Drones. She ducked and punched one in the stomach, not even giving him time to fall back as she stood up quickly and kicked him in the chest with her knee. Another one came up behind her and she pulled him forward over her shoulder.

Standing up, she saw Ethan jumping on one that was trying to take the backpack and she went to go help but another three ran over to her. She jumped up and kicked two in the chest at the same time, before swinging a full roundhouse kick down on the shoulder of another.

“Give the bag to me!” She shouted. “I can keep it away from them!”

“No,” Dr. Oliver shouted as he punched and kicked the many drones that reached out for him. “It’ll put you in danger!”

“Like we aren’t already?!” She couldn’t help but screech as she dodged another blow, grabbing onto a tree branch and swinging, knocking one drone into two others and watching them fall. Julie blinked and teleported across the clearing, away from the drones that were attacking her, and towards the ones that Dr. Oliver was fighting.

She knocked one away as it tried to grab the bag. She backflipped away, only to be met with another one, grabbing her arm.

“Ethan!” Dr. Oliver yelled. “Call the others!”

“Guys!” Ethan called into his communicator. “We could use some help out here!”

“Should we morph?” Julie asked. Ethan nodded and rolled away from the one that had grabbed him. Julie let herself go dead weight and knocked the one holding her off balance.

“You asked for this,” Ethan said. “Not me.”

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

The Pink and Blue Rangers stood in the clearing, both pulling out swords. Three different drones tried to rush them, but two blurs of yellow and red jumped in the way, blocking their strikes with their own swords.

“That was fast!” Julie said, grinning underneath the helmet.

“You guys couldn’t have done this another day?” Conner asked.

“Don’t tell us!” Ethan said. “Tell them!”

The appearance of the other two Rangers seemed to unite the drones as almost all of them gathered around the four of them.

Conner sighed, “Let’s make it quick- Tyranno Staff!”

“Ptera Grips, baby,” Kira called.

“Tricera Shield!”

“Stego Axe!”

The four of them ran forward in unison, breaking the Tyranno drones off into smaller groups.

Julie swung her axe like a baseball bat, knocking one drone into another before lifting it above her head and slicing it down on a different drone. She blinked and teleported behind another one, hitting it in the lower back with the butt of the axe.

“How’d you like that?” she called, only barely managed to knock another one away with the blade. The Pink Ranger jumped in the air and gave a debilitating backwards kick towards the one that got too close.

“Julie! We need to help Dr. O!” she heard Kira called.

“Right,” she answered. Julie swung her axe one more time to make room between a trio of drones and ran over to where her teacher had been fighting both the scary woman with the sword and the reject and managing to guard the eggs.

Just who was he?

“Do you really like these odds?” Ethan called as the four of them surrounded their teacher. “’Cause you look busted to me!”

“We’re not through with you Power Rangers!” the woman screamed.

“Nor you, Dr. Oliver,” the reject said, calmly. The woman raised her sword and they disappeared into an Invisiportal.

And just like that, it was over.

“Well they’re a pleasant couple,” Kira couldn’t help but say. Julie snorted out a laugh.

“We’d better get these back to my place,” Dr. O said.

“What are they?” Kira asked.

“We’re going to ride them!” Ethan and Julie said at the same time. Ethan’s tone was more sarcastic, but it his tone wouldn’t mask Julie’s excited skepticism.

Conner stepped forward, “Look, I have to go back to try outs. Can you guys handle this?”

“Yeah, go ahead, Conner,” Dr. Oliver said, patting him on the shoulder. “They can fill you in later.”

“Thanks!” the Red Ranger called as he ran off. As soon as he got out of eyesight, the other four started to run back to where they had parked the cars.

They had some eggs to hatch.

* * *

After an hour of waiting around, Dr. O told them to leave because “they were making him antsy” as they waited for the eggs to hatch. Kira had been just as dumbfounded when she realized what they had been protecting as Julie and Ethan had been when they found them.

“Man,” Ethan said later as they sat at a table in Cyberspace. “Dr. O is into some weird and funky stuff.”

Julie looked up from her laptop, “How do you know?”

“I don’t even want to think about what he’s hatching down in that cave right now,” Ethan answered. She nodded in agreement and took another sip from her smoothie.

“I have a feeling we won’t have to wait too long to find out,” Kira added. “Whoa. Who is that?”

The Pink Ranger looked up from her article about Junior Worlds to see Kira looking at a guy who just walked in.

“No idea,” Julie answered.

Ethan waved his hand in front of Kira’s face as she was staring blankly at the guy, ‘Hello? Anyone in there?”

“He’s really… wow,” Kira said, not paying him any kinds of attention. Ethan turned to look at Julie and she just shrugged. She never expected Kira to go ga-ga over a dude but, then again, she had only known her for a week.

“Can I get you a glass of water,” Ethan asked, laughing. “Or an oxygen mask?”

“Quiet!” Kira said, turning around quickly. “He’s coming over here!”

Julie smirked and took a sip of her smoothie as the guy, indeed, walked over to them.

“Hey,” he started. “I’m looking for Hayley? I’m supposed to start work today.”

Ethan looked around, but said, “She’s around here somewhere. Hey, haven’t I seen you at Reefside?”

“Yeah,” the guy said with a grin. “I just moved here last week. My name’s Trent.”

“It’s nice not to be the only new person,” Julie said with a grin. “I just moved here too. I’m Julie.”

“I’m Ethan,” he said, shaking the guys hand. “And this is Kira.”

“Hey,” Trent greeted with a smile. Kira, however, pretended not to hear him but Julie could see the flush rising up her neck. “Is everything okay?”

“She doesn’t speak,” Ethan joked. “We’ve been trying for years, but we just can’t get through.”

Julie kicked his shin underneath the table as Kira finally spoke up.

“I’m fine,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you.” Julie held in a snort at the look of death she gave the Blue Ranger.

Hayley walked up then and started to pull Trent away.

“I’ll see you guys later,” Trent said over his shoulder with a smile as he followed the red head.

“Isn’t he just so wow?” Ethan asked with an overly-bubbly tone.

Kira stomped on his foot.

Julie felt a presence over her shoulder and turned to see Conner standing there holding a mini soccer ball. He looked sweaty and out of breath, but surprisingly clean despite having been on the soccer field all day.

She thanked everything numerous times that her sport was indoors. And cold.

“Hey how’d it go?” Ethan asked.

“How’d it go?” Conner scoffed. “It’s over. The coach basically said, ‘Forget it.’ And who can blame him? I mean, I left in the middle of practice.”

“Well,” Kira started as the other three made confused eye contact, “it’s not like you didn’t have a good excuse.”

Julie could see Conner getting angrier and she gulped, “Right. Well, maybe next time I’ll bring a note from our teacher-,“ he started to walk away and get louder and Julie started to stand up. “’Sorry, Conner couldn’t make it to practice today. He was busy fighting freaky-looking dinosaur things in the forest-“

Kira let out a yell to hopefully try and cover his rising voice as the three gathered up on him, Julie and Kira both linked their arm’s with his as Ethan pushed him forward.

“I bet he’s never heard that excuse before,” he said.

The trio led him over to a plush sofa that was out of the way and Conner sat down roughly.

“Whatever. Look, the point is, what was I supposed to say?” he asked. “Man, this whole ‘saving the world’ deal is seriously starting to bum me out.” He hit his head on the back of the sofa as he leaned back, the other three looking at him concerned.

“I need to talk to Dr. Oliver,” he finally said, starting to sit up.

“I think he may be kind of busy,” Kira said, stopping him. “He’s got this whole new project-“

“Too bad,” the Red Ranger interrupted. “I was busy today. That-that didn’t stop him from messing up my life.” He stood up and started to walk off.

“Wait!” Ethan called. “We’ll go with you.”

Julie stood and made sure to grab the other half of her smoothie as they walked out, she had a feeling she would need it.

* * *

Ethan pulled on the dinosaur jaw from the Creepy Murder Cave side of the lab and Julie held back as the sounds of a bunch of creatures roaring were heard as the wall door slid open.

“Don’t come in!” They heard Dr. O shout from somewhere. “It’s not safe!”

They watched a bunch of furniture started to fly by, followed by Dr. O who had obviously been thrown by _something_.

“We kind of got that,” Kira said as she looked around at the destruction.

“Is that what was in those eggs?” Ethan asked as Dr. Oliver was thrown to the ground in front of them.

“Yeah,” their teacher said, standing up. “I’m trying to train them.”

“And how’s that going?” Julie asked.

“Slowly,” the man said, giving her a look but ducking as a large red tail sliced at the place where his head had been a moment before. “Very slowly.”

Julie heard Conner take a deep breath before he started to talk, “Look, I can see you’re busy with, well, whatever, but I need to talk.”

One of the large tails hit Dr. Oliver in the back and knocked him into the hallway. One of the creatures lunged for Ethan who just barely was able to hit the lever in time for the door to slide shut.

“I guess I could take a break,” Dr. Oliver said from the ground. Julie and Ethan walked over to help him up and immediately regretted it as they were officially covered in some type of mysterious goo. “All right, what’s up?”

“You gotta find someone to replace me,” Conner said.

“Excuse me?” Julie interjected at the same time as Kira said, “What are you talking about?” and Ethan added, talking over all of them. “You’re talking crazy!”

“All right, settle down, you three,” Dr. O said, placatingly. “What’s the problem?”

“Look,” Conner started. “I’m a soccer player. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. You know, every moment of my life has led up to playing for a pro team. And I get the greatest chance of my life, and I blow it.”

Julie looked down, recognizing how he felt because she felt the same with figure skating. She hadn’t even bothered trying to think about what she would do, how she would act, if something came up during a competition, or even a practice.

“I understand,” Dr. Oliver said with a sigh. “And you’re right.”

“You’re _agreeing_ with him?” Ethan asked, incredulously.

“Conner,” Dr. O continued as if Ethan hadn’t even spoke. “I know how you feel because I felt that way before.” Before? “But I want you to think about this before you do anything.”

“Look,” Kira started. “I’ve got things I want to do, but I’m here. I’m dealing.” Julie winced as she knew that was definitely the wrong thing to say.

“Good for you,” Conner said. “I guess I’m just different.” He pushed forward to walk away and the other four looked at each other.

“Woah. And I thought the red guy was supposed to be the leader,” Ethan said, dumbfounded.

“Should I go after him?” Julie asked. “If anybody knows how he feels-,“ She didn’t get an answer, but she saw Kira nod at her so Julie pushed past them as well and followed after the Red Ranger.

* * *

By the time Julie had caught up to Conner (what, her legs were really short, okay?) he was already back at the soccer field. He didn’t notice her as she stood and watched as he kicked ball after ball into the net.

“Hey Conner,” Julie said. The boy turned towards her and looked down. “You know, you’re pretty good.”

He let out a puff of air, as if laughing. “Thanks. And what a lot of good that gets me.”

She shook her head. “You forget, Ball Boy,” she replied jokingly. “Our sports may be different, but I get how you feel. I tried not to even let myself think about what would happen if we got a call when I was on the ice. Could you imagine? At least you’re in normal shoes.” She saw him smirk. “I know what soccer means to you, because figure skating means that to me. And this whole Ranger business? It’s new and different and completely out of our comfort zones.”

“What if I can’t do both?” he asked. “Soccer is all I’ve ever wanted.”

Julie smiled at him, “It may be all that you think you’ve ever wanted, but don’t you feel like being a Ranger is something that you _need_? It might just be me but-“

“McKnight!”

Julie turned to the voice that interrupted her to see a man with a badly receding hair line and wearing a whistle around his neck.

“Coach! What are you doing here?” Julie crossed her arms and looked at the man who didn’t even give her a glance.

“I got a call from one of your teachers,” he said. “He tells me that it was his fault you had to leave today.”

Julie felt her eyebrows shoot up. Dr. Oliver really called?

“Does that mean I have a shot?” Conner asked, urgently.

The man chuckled. “You always had a shot, son. You sure you really want this? Are you willing to give up everything? Even pretty girls like this?” Julie shot the man a sneer as Conner quickly answered.

“Yeah. Yeah, I am,” she jerked her head over at him, staring at him dumbfoundedly.

“Conner!”

“All right,” the coach said, again, ignoring her. “I’ll let you know.” He turned to walk away as Julie turned to Conner, ready to _rip_ into him.

“Hey bro,” she turned, mad, as Ethan and Kira walked up. The other girl placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down.

“Hey,” Conner said, turning around with a bright smile.

“Things okay with the coach?” Kira asked.

“Yeah,” Conner started, looking down. “Listen, I’m sorry, you guys. You gotta understand.”

Julie rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, we do,” Kira said with a smile.

“She does more than me,” Ethan added. “But if it’s what you really want.”

“I feel like I understand more than _either_ of them,” Julie said. “But I still don’t think-“

_“Guys we have a situation. There’s a monster attack in the city. People are in danger.”_

Julie looked down at her communicator, their teacher interrupting her once again.

“Okay,” Conner said. “But this is the last time. Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

* * *

When they finally saw the monster, Julie felt like puking but knew it would stink up her helmet. It was a bipedal bird-like creature with large green and purple leaves coming out of it’s neck like a cowl and carrying an honest to god _rifle_.

“Whoa! Nasty!” Ethan said.

“I have to agree agree with you,” Julie said with a groan.

“Let’s do it!” Conner said. He ran forward to attack and the other three followed.

Despite the four of them ganging up on the monster, it still had the upper hand. It didn’t take long at all for it to bump Ethan and Conner away, leaving only Kira and Julie.

Julie went to punch it, but it rolled out of the way and hit her with the butt of it’s gun, throwing her through the air. Kira quickly followed.

The monster started to stalk towards them, probably ready to finish them off, as Ethan got its attention.

“Hey Bird Brain! Thunder Max!”

He had pulled his blaster out and fired a laser at the monster, quickly followed by Conner who did the same thing. The monster had no chance to defend himself and the boys ran over to the Pink and Yellow Rangers.

“Thanks guys,” Kira said as they helped her up. Conner held out a hand and Julie used it to pull herself up as well, a stitch in her side causing her to seize up.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she answered.

“Give up!” Conner shouted, pointing his blaster at the creature once again.

It laughed. “Catch me if you can!” He jumped away, surprisingly fast.

“He’s getting away!”

“We’ll never catch him,” Conner stated as he stopped Kira from running after him.

Their communicators beeped.

_“You can. Meet the Raptor Riders.”_

All four turned at the sound of roars and saw the same four creatures that had been tearing apart Dr. Oliver’s lab running towards them with what looked like saddles on their back.

“Oh yeah!” Conner yelled as he jumped onto the Red one as it ran by. The other Raptor Riders didn’t stop at all so the others also had to jump on while they were running at full speed.

“This isn’t what I was expecting but I’m pleasantly surprised!” Julie said with a laugh as she gripped the leather strip that guided the beast tightly in her hands.

“Go, Raptor Riders!” All four of them shouted.

With the help of their new steeds, it didn’t take them long to catch up to the monster as it jumped over cars.

“There he goes!” Kira called.

“On it!” Ethan yelled.

But just as they started to follow the monster, a large group of people ran screaming as they were chased by Tyranno Drones.

“I’ll help the girl!” Conner called. Julie looked and saw a small child trying to hide. She must have gotten separated from her parents. “You go on ahead!”

“Right!” “Be careful!”

The two girls chased off after the monster as they heard Ethan call, “I’ve got your back!”

The Yellow and Pink Rangers followed the monster as it scaled the many buildings and parking garages and Julie couldn’t help but be thankful for her bright pink Raptor Rider as it followed along with ease.

Still, it didn’t take long before it came to an end and the monster jumped off the tallest building, landed easily on the ground. Julie pulled her Rider to a halt and gulped as she looked over the edge.

“You afraid of heights?” the monster called up at them.

“Honestly yeah,” Julie said quietly with a grimace.

“You wish, you freaky bird!” Kira called. She pulled out one of her Ptera Grips and jumped vertically down the side of the building, bouncing off the ledges, to swipe at it with her grip. Julie pulled out her axe and took a deep breath before doing the same.

“Stego Axe!” She called, barely keeping her panic down as she swiped at the monster and knocking him straight into Conner’s call of “Tyranno Staff!” Ethan knocked him down and away with blue blasts from his blaster.

“Raptor Riders!” They all called. Ethan, Kira, and Julie jumped off their Rider’s and managed to squeeze onto Conner’s to lock their weapons together.

“Z-Red Blaster! Firing!”

The monster went up in a blaze as Ethan called out, “That goose is cooked!”

“Awesome!”

“We rock!”

“Go us!”

They didn’t have long to celebrate as the sky went dark and it started to rain.

“Oh you have to be kidding me,” Julie muttered as they watched the once-in-pieces monster reform whole and taller than a skyscraper.

“Dr. O,” Conner said into his communicator. “We may have a problem on our hands.”

_“Let me guess. The 30-story version of that guy you were just fighting?”_

“You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” Ethan asked.

“So _this_ is what he meant earlier,” Julie added.

_“Once or twice. I’m sending the Dino Zords.”_

The four of them watched as their four Zords started to run for them.

“You ready?” Conner asked.

“Let’s do it!”

Julie placed her heels together and _jumped_ as high as she could and landed in the cockpit of her Stego Zord. It took no effort or time at all for the four of them to merge their zords.

“Thundersaurus MegaZord!”

The now giant bird monster let out a scream as it fired its gun at them, blasting them with its laser.

“I’ve got an idea!” Kira said as Julie had raised her arms to protect herself from the flying sparks. “Ptera Rang!”

The Zord pulled part of it’s Ptera Zord chest piece off to use as a boomerang and threw it at the monster, hitting it dead on. Together, they jumped up and Conner activated the drill arm as they barreled towards the monster, slicing through him quick and easy.

They watched as he fell, again before exploding into sparks.

“Now that’s what I call monster-busting,” Kira said with a laugh.

With the fight over, they jumped out of their Zords only to see a small girl and her mother.

“Hey!” Conner called. The little girl started to run up to him and he ran to meet her.

“Thank you,” she said haltingly, and threw herself into his arms.

“Anytime,” Conner said, hugging her back. “Anytime.”

Julie felt her heart melt at the cuteness.

* * *

Julie rose her arms in a big stretch as she sat at the counter in Cyberspace, a bag of ice on her knee. She had stressed it too much that morning in practice and couldn’t afford to take time off for it to heal, but also didn’t want to miss Kira’s band’s first performance.

Ethan stood up from where he was sitting beside her as Conner walked in.

“Hey. I didn’t expect to see you here,” he said.

“Why not?” Conner said with a smug grin. “We’re partners in crime-fighting, right?”

“Are we?” Both Ethan and Julie asked, looking at each other confused.

“Yeah,” Conner answered. “We are.”

They both walked back over and sat on either side of Julie.

“What happened with the Wave?” Ethan asked, slapping him on the shoulder.

“I had to make a choice,” Conner shrugged. “That little girl made me realize there’s nothing more important than what we’re doing.” He looked over to Julie. “Soccer is what I _wanted_ , but I didn’t know that being a Ranger was I _needed_. So, thanks Princess.”

“Aww, Ball Boy does have a heart,” she said, shoving him.

“Hey Conner,” Hayley said as she walked up, dropping off three bottles of soda with straws sticking out of them. “Sorry you didn’t make the team. These are on the house.”

“How does she _do_ that?” Conner asked as she walked away.

Ethan snorted. “Hayley knows all, man. And I’m sorry too.”

Conner sighed and Julie wished, for a moment, that she wasn’t trapped in between the two of them so they could have the bro-moment they so desperately needed.

“Yeah, look, you know I still would’ve chosen you guys, right?” he asked. Julie laughed and lightly shoved his shoulder.

“We know,” she and Ethan said in unison.

The reverb of the mic pulled them out of their conversation as Hayley stood up on the stage.

“Hey guys! Tonight, we’ve got something really special for you – a young woman with a lot to say. Ladies and gentlemen, Kira Ford!”

Julie let out a loud cheer and started clapping, getting the rest of the crowd gathered in Cyberspace to do the same thing. She could see Kira start to flush from the stage as she stepped up to the mic, her bright yellow guitar shone brightly under the stage lights as she started to play.

“Hey Julie,” Conner started. “Thank you. Really. What you said, it helped a lot.”

She smiled up him as he looked down at her and lightly shoved him with her elbow. “You know I have your back, Ball Boy.” He lightly shoved her back with a chuckle.

“Hey,” Ethan said. “Wasn’t Dr. O supposed to be here?”


	4. Legacy of Power

_“Try and be home for dinner, okay Jules_?” her brother said over the phone once she explained she wouldn’t be home until late _. “I haven’t seen you a lot lately and I’m about to have to head out of town for a bit.”_

“Of course, Justin,” Julie replied with a smile as she loaded herself into the back of Conner’s death trap that he lovingly referred to as a car. “I’ll see you soon! Get Chinese!”

“So how is it just living with your brother?” Ethan asked as he slid into the passenger seat. “He was the one who dropped you off that first day, right?”

“The super nice car?” Conner added. “That was you?”

Julie rolled her eyes. “My brother’s car, thanks. He wanted to embarrass me, like most older siblings do, or at least that’s what I’ve seen on television.”

Conner laughed. “No, you’re right. My brother Eric does the same thing whenever he’s home from school, and he’s only a few minutes older. It’s like instinct.”

“What does he even do?” Kira asked. “You haven’t said. We just know that you live with him here in Reefside because that’s where your Coach transferred to. What about your parents?”

She waved off the questions. “Mom is back home in Angel Grove. She's always been super busy with very little time for Justin and I, so we had to occupy ourselves. Jay studied, the Big Brain that he is, and jumped like five grades – starting high school when he was like 10 or something. I started figure skating to keep out of his hair. Now? He’s a developer for the Turbo X Software company based out of-“

“Wait,” Ethan said, stopping her. “Turbo X Software? _Seriously_? That’s like, my dream job.”

“Color me surprised,” Conner said. Ethan smacked him on the shoulder.

“Yeah. He started it with a few friends of his,” Julie finished explaining. “He heads up the tech side of the business while they handle the marketing and financing parts. He’s like, years younger than them, but he gets along well. They were friends in high school.”

“That’s so cool,” Ethan said. “Maybe I could get an internship…”

“Hey, we’re here,” Conner said as he pulled into a parking spot at Dr. Oliver’s house. His jeep was gone, which was odd.

They walked up to the front door and tested it, only to find it unlocked. Julie rolled her eyes at her teacher’scontinuing inability to lock his door. She would suggest that he was sick or something, but even then, he would have at least tried to get in touch with them. And again, that didn’t explain the missing jeep.

“This is bad,” Kira stated as they got downstairs to the lab and couldn’t find him anywhere.

“Way bad,” Ethan added. “Worse than crashing after getting to level 9 in ‘S.N.S.W.’” At their confusion he clarified, “Super Ninja Space Wars?”

“Oh yeah,” Julie said. “I remember Jay talking about it. Something about how inaccurate it was?”

“It’s a video game,” Ethan said. “It doesn’t have to be accurate. Also, what does he know?” She just shrugged.

“Okay, look,” Conner said. “Don’t you think we’re getting a little _too_ freaked out about this?”

Kira rolled her eyes. “Dr. O doesn’t show up for my gig, then misses a full day of school without calling.”

“Randall was _not_ happy, let me tell you,” Julie added. “I overheard her screaming in her office.”

“Yeah, I’d say we’ve achieved exactly the right level of freaking out.”

Ethan shrugged, “I guess there’s only one way to find out what the good doctor’s been up to.” He started walking towards Dr. O’s computer set up and the other three followed.

“How’s that?” Conner asked.

Ethan shushed him as he typed around on the keyboard for a bit before the screen turned on.

“I’m in.”

“Yeah,” Kira said, exasperated. “But where?”

A video appeared on the screen that looked like Dr. Oliver setting up a camera. He started to speak.

_“I’m Tommy Oliver. If you’re not me, then something is seriously wrong. This video diary is a confidential record only to be viewed in case of an emergency.”_

The four of them looked at each other, confused. They’d seen their teacher serious before, but this was on a whole new level. Julie leaned in farther, afraid to miss anything.

_“What you’re about to see is a history of my life.”_

“More dinosaur bone stories,” Conner interjected, bored. “Yawn.”

_“My history…. As a Power Ranger.”_

“Okay. Un-yawn,” Conner said, leaning in as well.

Julie let out a soft cheer. “I knew it! Some of the stuff he was saying just wasn’t adding up-“

“Like knowing about the giant monster thing!” Ethan added. Julie nodded.

“Exactly.”

 _“My story begins in Angel Grove,”_ Julie stood straight, recognizing the name of her home. _“When five teenagers with attitude were recruited to fight the evil space sorceress, Rita Repulsa.”_

Five teenagers on the screen were transported to a lab and they watched as they morphed into Rangers, being watched by a giant head in a tube and a small robot. Julie recognized those uniforms, she had seen them numerous times in person after all as they had traipsed through the city when she was younger.

_“They harnessed the Power of the dinosaur in order to become Earth’s first Power Rangers.”_

“Why did he specify Earth?”

“Shhh.”

_“Under the guidance of intergalactic being Zordon, Trini, Zack, Kimberly, Billy, and Jason bravely defended Earth, which forced Rita to create her own Ranger.”_

“Okay,” Kira said. “So where’s Dr. O?”

On the video, there was a small voice that called out a ‘hey!’ and the boy on screen turned around. Julie snorted. _“‘I’m Kimberly. You’re new around here, aren’t you?’”_

_“‘Yeah. I’m Tommy.’”_

“Shut _up_ there’s no way,” Julie said excitedly, gripping Conner’s arm. “ _Look at him_! Look at his _hair_! He’s practically an infant!”

They watched on screen as a woman with giant horns and a staff declared that she had chosen Dr. Oliver.

_“Her evil magic was too strong. I couldn’t fight it.”_

_“’This boy is truly the one that shall become my evil Green Ranger! RISE, my Green Ranger!’”_

_“She commanded me to destroy the Power Rangers, and I almost succeeded.”_

_“’I know you’re the Green Ranger’”_ the video of Kimberly, the first Pink Ranger, said. Video Tommy turned to her angrily. _“’Well, then, Pink Ranger, you should also know that you and the other Power Rangers will soon be destroyed.’”_

_“But my friends never gave up. They helped me destroy the Power Sword and I was freed.”_

_“’Rita’s spell is broken!’ ‘Join us, and we can defeat Rita!’ ‘After everything that’s happened?’”_

_“’It’s where you belong.’”_

Julie smiled at that, glancing at Conner who had also been looking at her. They both quickly turned back to the screen.

_“And that’s when I joined the team. But not for long. I soon discovered the Green Ranger powers were only temporary.”_

They watched on screen as Dr. Oliver, demorphed, flickered green before disappearing. Then, it flashed to a scene in the Command Center with all the other Rangers around, looking sad. _“’Alpha and I felt it was time to create an even more powerful Ranger to combat Lord Zedd and his diabolical evil,’”_ the voice of Zordon said. _“’And now, my friends, I present to you – the White Ranger!’”_

On screen, the Ranger turned around and watched as a white clad Ranger descended from a light. The four teenagers gaped as they watched the White Ranger unclip his helmet and pull it off, to reveal a young Dr. Oliver.

_“’Guess who’s back?’”_

The video paused.

“Why did you do that for?” Kira asked, hitting Ethan on the shoulder. “I want to see what’s next!”

“Because I’m so buggin’ I can’t even deal,” Ethan said, confused.

“Our teacher,” Conner said, excitedly, “is the oldest, living Power Ranger.”

“-Not the oldest.”

The four gasped and turned around at the familiar voice, only to see Hayley from Hayley's Cyberspace standing at the entrance to the lab, a bag over her shoulder. “Just the best,” she finished.

“Hayley?” Ethan asked incredulously. They all stood up and started to walk over to her.

“How did you get in here?” Conner asked, confused.

“More to the point,” Kira interjected. “What do you know about any of this?”

Julie nodded. “Yeah, do you know what happened to Dr. O?”

“I know that Tommy is in trouble,” Hayley said, calmly. “And you four? Are the only ones who can help him.”

“I’ve been helping Tommy prepare the Ranger energy since grad school,” she explained. “Who do you think built the morphers?” She chuckled. “I mean, Tommy’s good with dinosaurs and fossils, but a rocket scientist? He ain’t.”

The four teenagers looked at each other, shocked, before Conner spoke, “And let me guess? You are.”

“Among other things,” Hayley said with a smirk.

“Okay,” Kira said, drawing attention back to the matter at hand. “So, you know who we are. You know what we are. Do you know where Dr. Oliver is?”

Hayley sighed. “I think I have a pretty good idea.” She pulled a disc out of her bag with the same symbol that was on their Ranger uniforms and that decorated the wall sconces in the lab. The older woman turned to walk towards the computer and the four Rangers followed.

She put the disc in and pressed play. “This is a surveillance tape from the day of your gig, Kira.” She explained. On the video, Tyranno Drones and the Ren Faire reject were fighting Dr. Oliver, who was holding his own for a bit, until they had restrained him, only to disappear into an Invisiportal.

“Why didn’t he just morph? I mean, he’s a Power Ranger,” Conner asked.

“Why _hasn’t_ he morphed at all?” Julie added. “We could’ve used the help.”

Hayley looked up at them, confused. “Not anymore, or didn’t you get that far?”

She pushed a few keys and clicked back over to the video diary, only for the first scene to be a disgustingly gross looking man that looked like he was just muscle yelling.

_“A new villain, Lord Zedd, was destroying Earth, and with three Rangers leaving, a new power source had to be found.”_

_“’The Sword of Light will allow your powers to be transferred to three new Rangers,’”_ the voice of Zordon said. Three new teenagers were beamed into the Command Center and Julie’s jaw dropped.

“Shut all the way up! Adam? _Rocky_? You’re kidding me!”

The others turned to her, confused. “You know them?”

Julie scoffed, “Yeah. They run Turbo X with my brother. They came to Salt Lake in ’04 to watch me. They’re like… like family!”

“And apparently, they’re Power Rangers,” Kira added.

_“Trini, Zack, and Jason passed on their powers, and the three new Rangers stepped forward. And just in time, because Rita and Zedd teamed up to form our most powerful enemy yet, bringing with them a new terror – Rito.”_

_“The new team fought bravely, but it wasn’t enough. Rito destroyed our Zords.”_

_“’Looks like we lost more than our Zords,’”_ video Dr. O said. _“’We’ve lost our powers.’”_

 _“’Your journey is about to begin,’”_ came the voice of someone new, what looked like a Ranger made of bubbles with a giant ‘N’ on it’s chest.

_“A Ranger never gives up. Zordon sent us on a quest to find Ninjor, a warrior from the past who showed us the secrets of the ancient ninja. Our quest complete, we gained new weapons, new Zords, and new enemies.”_

_“But along with new enemies, came new friends.”_

Julie’s jaw dropped again as her old babysitter appeared on screen. Kira put a hand on her shoulder to keep her quiet, as the video continued.

_“When Kimberly chose to leave, Katherine was the only choice. Katherine assumed the Pink Ranger power and just in time – we were under attack.”_

They were transported out just in time as the Command Center went up in flames.

_“We got out just as Rita and Zedd succeeded in destroying the Command Center.”_

_“Beneath the ruins, we found the Zeo Crystal, a mystical power that guided us into the next chapter of our lives as Rangers.”_

“Oh that’s-“

“Tanya Sloan? _The_ Tanya Sloan?” Kira interrupted Julie, stunned. “She’s my idol! And she was the Yellow Ranger?”

“Shhh, we’re watching here,” Ethan said. On the screen, the Rangers were receiving their new powers. Instead of White, Dr. O became the Red Ranger. Rocky, who had been Red, became Blue and Adam turned to Green instead of Black. Katherine stayed Pink.

_“The Zeo Powers were awesome, but when we needed reinforcements, we turned to an old friend. Jason returned and assumed the power of the Gold Ranger.”_

_“After high school graduation, we were ready to face the world.“_ Julie couldn’t help but scream.

“NO!” The others jumped, scared at her outburst. She reached over and paused the video as the graduating Rangers surrounded a small, familiar boy. “Justin?!”

“Wait,” Conner interrupted. “ _That’s_ your brother?”

“Your last name is Stewart?” Hayley interjected. “And Justin Stewart is your brother.”

“Yes! He knew the Rangers?”

Hayley shook her head, “More than that. Keep watching.” Ethan unpaused the video.

“I really don’t like where this is going,” Julie said, stressed, her eyes tracking the screen closely.

_“But not before going on one last adventure as Rangers, it was time to shift into a higher gear.”_

They watched on screen as the Rangers got into old cars and raced through the dusty deserts outside of Angel Grove. Video Dr. O called, _‘Shift into Turbo’_ and Julie felt her heart sink in her chest at the familiar catchphrase she had heard for years from her brother and his friends.

_“The old Rangers were gone forever, but the Turbo Rangers were born. A space pirate named Divatox launched an attack on Earth. We were given the Powers of Turbo and took her head-on, with a little help.”_

Where there hadn’t been a blue Ranger before, there was one now. Julie looked over at the others who were engrossed in the video and at Hayley who was firmly not making eye contact.

_“’Guys! I’m the new Blue Ranger!’”_

“I’m going to be sick.”

* * *

Julie sat, stunned, as her older brother was on the video, morphing into a full (adult??) Power Ranger. The others were looking between her and the paused video in shock. Why hadn’t he ever told her?

“Your brother was the youngest Ranger ever,” Ethan stated, stunned.

The Pink Ranger let out an anxious laugh before gripping tight onto the edge of the desk, as if she were about to fall over. Conner reached out to steady her, just in case.

“My brother was a Power Ranger,” she said. “And he _never told me_!”

“Well,” Conner started, less than helpfully, “have you told him that _you_ are a Power Ranger?”

Julie stared at him, shocked. “Well. No.”

“And how old were you? When he was a Ranger, I mean,” Conner added.

“Well, he was like, maybe twelve? So, I would’ve been ten?”

“Would you, a twelve-year old, want to tell your ten-year-old baby sister that you were a Power Ranger?”

Julie was silent for a moment as they unpaused the video again.

They watched as the video played, Dr. Oliver in a truck getting defeated by monsters, before a group of four other teenagers stepped in.

_“T.J., Cassie, Ashley, and Carlos proved that they had what it takes.”_

_“’You’ve been asked to pick an outstanding individual who will take over as your successor,’”_ a woman in white on the video instructed. _“’We welcome them now, into the Power Ranger Family!’”_

 _“’I wouldn’t be standing here today T.J.,’”_ video Dr. O started. _“’If it weren’t for your courage and strength. I choose you to lead the team as the new Red Ranger.’”_

“After that,” Hayley said as she paused the video, “Tommy went to college where he met yours truly, but when he found the dino gems, he knew he could never escape the power for long.”

“Seeing as how I don’t want this to be the end of the line,” Ethan started, “can we get back on the subject of finding Dr. O?”

“Hey, I just thought of something,” Kira interjected. “What about Invisiportals? They’re all over the city. If we could find one, we could get into Mesogog’s lab.”

Hayley nodded. “I’ve been working on that very thing. Unfortunately, I need just a little more time.”

The four looked at each other, lost.

“Okay, so what are we supposed to do while you’re doing that?”

She started typing again. “Here. Watch more of your heritage. You might learn something.”

 _“Divatox was tough,”_ the video started again, _‘”and the Pirahnatrons were relentless. Divatox wasn’t ready to give up and staged a fearsome attack, taking out the Turbo Rangers’ Command Center and their powers with it. She headed for space and Earth’s ultimate destruction.”_

_“The Rangers knew they had to follow Divatox into space and embarked on a dangerous mission, leaving behind the world they knew, forever.”_

Julie held her hand to her mouth as Carlos on the screen said ‘Goodbye, Justin’ and they watched with a young Justin as the Rangers took off in their high-jacked spaceship.

“That explains his obsession with _space_ ,” Julie couldn’t help but mutter.

_“The journey into space was treacherous and the line between friend and foe was a thin one. Andros proved he was more than a friend; he was just the kind of leader they would need to fight a new enemy – an enemy called Astronema.”_

_“They thought they had no hope, but Andros brought them the Astro Morphers, bringing forth a new team.”_

_“The Space Rangers freed Zane from his deep freeze, and the silver Ranger was a noble addition to the team. Together, they defeated Astronema, and the Earth was safe, but deep in space another battle raged.”_

“Oh, so we’re confirming new planets now, huh?” Ethan asked, skeptical.

Conner shoved him lightly with his elbow.

_“On the distant planet of Mirinoi, five new heroes: Leo, Damon, Kendrix, Maya, and Kai retrieved the Galaxy Sabers and were chosen to be the Power Rangers of the Lost Galaxy. They would have to combine their powers if they were to defeat their mortal enemy, Trakeena._

_“Trakeena threatened to destroy the space colony, Terra Venture, and took on a horrifying new form. Red Ranger and his Battlyzer were the colony’s only hope. With Trakeena destroyed, the people of Terra Venture were forever grateful to the Rangers of the Lost Galaxy._

_“Meanwhile, on Earth, an elite team was being put together to fight a new battle against an invasion of demons. The Lightspeed Rangers needed one more to complete their mission, that’s when Ryan joined the team.”_

_“’Titanium Power,’”_ the guy on screen yelled, only for the video to be paused.

“Hey! I was watching that!” Ethan said.

Hayley scoffed, “Sorry, but I’ve got something.” The screens turned from the video to the forests of Reefside as if they were being filmed from overhead and it was moving fast.

“You’ve got him?” Conner asked.

“Almost. I’ve got a lock on the back door to Mesogog’s firewall. In theory, it should lead us straight to an Invisiportal.”

“And then what?” Kira asked.

Hayley turned back to the screen and Julie could see her eyes widen.

“I’ll let you know when I get there.”

Great. She didn’t know what to do either. At this rate, they would never be able to find Dr. Oliver.

Suddenly, all the computers started to beep and the screens went black.

“Wait, what’s happening,” Julie asked.

“Either I’m losing my touch, or Mesogog is really smart – for a mutant freak.”

The screens turned to static and the video started to play again.

“What’s it doing now?” Kira asked.

Hayley answered, “It’s retrieving more Ranger history.”

_“’My friends are I are from the year 3000-‘”_

Ethan paused the video, “Woah, hold up. Power Rangers who came from the future?”

“They’re down with time travel and everything, right? Couldn’t they take us back to the moment when Tommy was kidnapped?” Julie scrunched up her face at Kira.

“Dude, I’m still getting used to Dr. O having a real name. Please don’t just throw it out like that,” she said. Kira slapped her arm.

“What,” Conner said, ignoring her. “So we can watch it happen all over again?” The others looked at him dumbly, and he realized. “Oh. So we can stop them. Got it.”

“At least you’re pretty, Ball Boy,” Julie said.

Kira pushed on, “It’s worth a shot. Let’s see if this tells us how to reach them.”

_‘”-we’re trying to recatch a group of mutants that escaped through time and take them back with us. We think you may be the only one who can unlock these morphers so we can defeat them.’”_

_“Rangers from the future chased a mutant criminal through time, but it took a modern-day hero to help finish the job. It took a while for Eric to learn that the greatest virtue of being a Ranger is not the power- but the reward of helping mankind.”_

The five of them stared blankly at the screen before sighing.

“Well that was sick, but unhelpful,” Ethan stated firmly.

“Okay so what about all the other Rangers,” Conner interjected. “I mean, there must be hundreds of them all over the place. Couldn’t we team up and scout all over the city?”

“It’s not that easy,” Hayley answered. “Most Rangers don’t have their powers anymore. Take Justin for example, his were destroyed when Divatox destroyed the Command Center. Some, also, never wanted them at all.”

Julie nodded. “Yeah, and he would have done what he could – he was on a team with Dr. O _and_ he’s a current Ranger’s brother. Honestly, we could probably get in touch with him now and see what he can do, who he can contact. Surely not all of them have lost their powers.”

The video continued.

_“Cole joined, and the Wild Force Rangers used spirits of the ancient animals to fight the evil Orgs, creatures determined to conquer Earth through pollution and destruction.”_

_“The final member to join the team was Merrick, the Lunar Wolf.”_

The video paused again.

“And meanwhile,” Ethan started. “We still have no way to find Dr. O.”

Hayley sighed, throwing her hands up.

“I know there’s at least one more group of Rangers out there. They had a guy named Cam, he was even more of a genius at this stuff than I am and-“

“Try typing in Ninja Storm,” Conner suggested, out of the blue.

Kira turned to him and stared, blankly. “I’m sorry, what?”

“What?” Conner answered. “My twin brother went to this super-secret ninja school. Everyone there knew a few of the students got chosen to be Rangers.”

“ _Your_ brother was a Power Ranger, too?” Ethan asked.

Conner scoffed. “Nah, he couldn’t even finish ninja school. He’s, like, a total airhead. We’re _so_ different.”

The other three Rangers caught each other’s eyes and quickly looked away, before they could burst into laughter.

“Look I found them,” Hayley interjected.

 _“’These are your Power Ranger Wind Morphers,’”_ said a guy on the screen. He lifted what was looking to be a familiar suitcase ( _why_ did Ranger mentors tend to keep morphers in shiny suitcases anyway?) to reveal three morphers inside. The three new Rangers seemed just as incredulous as they had when the received _their_ morphers.

It’s nice that at least something is comparable.

_“Three unlikely Ninja students commanded the power of Earth, Air, and Water. It was the Power of Thunder that gave them their biggest challenge. But their greatest enemies, proved to be their greatest allies. With Earth at the brink of destruction, another friend – Cam – went back in time to retrieve the one power that could save them all – the power of the Green Samurai Ranger.”_

_“In their final battle against Lothor, the Rangers made the ultimate sacrifice-“_

_“’I have your Ranger Powers,’”_ the big bad, a humanoid guy wearing a mask with long braids, said.

 _“’We may not be Power Rangers,’”_ the guy in Red started. _“’But we still have Power! Power of Air!”_

 _“’Power of Earth!’”_ the guy in yellow added.

 _“’Power of Water!’”_ the only girl finished.

 _“’Ninja Powers!’”_ they all said in unison, before shooting beams of light at Lothor and sending him tumbling down a giant hole that had opened in the ground.

“Whoa! Ninjas are real!” Ethan exclaimed. “I knew it!”

Julie rolled her eyes.

Conner said, “Hey, my brother taught me some of his moves, check it out.”

They all turned to watch him as he started punching the air, then, a jump kick. Finally, he spun around in a roundhouse kick and hit one of Dr. O’s machines, causing it to spark.

“Oh please tell me that didn’t just happen,” Hayley pleaded as she turned back to the screens. The video feet had started to break up and turn staticky. “I think we just lost our last hope of finding Tommy.”

The four rangers looked at each other, stunned.

* * *

“Any luck?” Julie asked, once Hayley had been typing away for awhile.

“Got it!” The tech genius answered.

Ethan let out a whoop, “We are so lucky you’re a genius.”

Julie could see the relief on Conner’s face and she elbowed him in the side, “Nice move, Ninja Boy.”

“Honestly, I prefer that to Ball Boy,” she elbowed him again as he laughed.

“Even geniuses need help sometimes,” Hayley said with a smile. “That little jolt must’ve done something to the wiring, ‘cause I’m getting something!”

The video flickered back in, but instead of found footage of other Rangers, it was Dr. Oliver sitting in front of his camera.

_“With the return of Mesogog, it became necessary to invoke the power of the Dino Gems. Should anything happen to me, these four are charged with protecting the planet.”_

“It’s us,” Kira said, stunned.

Really, it was. The top three screens and the bottom middle were all videos of them, the two side screens on the bottom were split to show their Zords.

They really were the latest in the long legacy of the Power Rangers.

_“You’re in good hands.”_

The quad sat in silence for a moment, taking in their mentor’s words. They’ve only been Rangers for a couple of weeks, they weren’t anywhere _near_ the experience or ability of the past Ranger teams that Dr. Oliver had so carefully shown them, how were the supposed to save the world?

How were they supposed to save _him_?

“He really trusts us,” Conner finally said, slightly taken aback.

“We have to save him,” Ethan started. “We owe it to him.”

“The whole world owes him,” Kira added.

“Then let’s get looking,” Julie finished.

The four nodded at each other as the computer started to beep rapidly. “It worked! I’ve got a lock on an Invisiportal!”

“Time to go save a teacher,” Conner declared. The other three nodded, smiles and grins on their faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow look at that. A whole, five Ranger team. Love to see it. And Julie knows her brother was a Power Ranger! What's gonna happen?
> 
> I plan on posting a couple of chapters every few days because I'm so excited for this story so keep your eyes peeled!


	5. Back in Black

_The four nodded at each other as the computer started to beep rapidly. “It worked! I’ve got a lock on an Invisiportal!”_

_“Time to go save a teacher,” Conner declared. The other three nodded, smiles and grins on their faces._

“Remember!” Hayley called after them as they started to walk out with determined looks on their faces. “You have to reach a speed of 536 miles per hour upon entry, otherwise you’ll never make it past the security wall and probably be ripped to pieces!”

The four Rangers stopped in their tracks, turning in unison to look at Hayley who was looking sheepish.

“Did I forget to mention that?” Julie just stared at her, concerned. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Julie ran a hand down her face and quickly pulled her hair up, ready to get to business – or to be ripped to shreds, whichever one.

At least if it’s the second she doesn’t have to confront her brother about his Ranger past or her current Ranger future, so there was always a bright side.

“Never fear,” Hayley added. “I have something just for the occasion.”

Julie assumed she hit a button, because a beep came from somewhere in the lab and one of the walls that Julie could have sworn was _just a wall_ opened up to reveal four motorbikes, sort of like their Raptor Riders, but they definitely looked like they could reach the necessary speeds.

“Hey which ones mine?” Conner asked.

Julie snorted as Ethan looked at him as if he were dumb, “I’m kidding,” he said with a grin.

“Oh, you so weren’t kidding,” Ethan joked, elbowing him.

“These are your new Raptor Cycles,” Hayley explained as she walked over to them. “They should have you to the portal coordinates in approximately 92.75 seconds.”

“That’s…. like a minute and a half,” Julie said. “That _fast_?”

“Oh, so the Ice Princess can do math? That’s new,” Julie slapped Kira on the shoulder for the remark but the two girls grinned at each other. A week or so ago and okay, Julie would have probably ripped out a chunk of her hair for that comment.

Growth.

“And when we get there?” Kira asked, becoming serious.

Hayley nodded, “You’ll use your gems to access the hyperdrive, then head straight through the portal to Mesogog’s island fortress.”

“Wait,” Conner interrupted, “did you just say, ‘island fortress?’”

“Yes, why?”

Conner actually looked nervous, “Well, uh, islands – they’re surrounded by water.”

“Usually,” Julie said, a smirk growing on her face. Ethan’s mind went in the same direction.

“No… you can’t swim?” he asked, stunned.

“I didn’t say that!” Conner denied.

Ethan laughed, “But it’s true? You can’t.”

Hayley rolled her eyes as she walked back and forth in front of the bikes, exhausted at their behavior. She was the one who wanted to help out a team of a bunch of teenagers, so really, it was all her fault.

“The Invisiportal will take you _directly_ to the island, no swimming necessary,” she said. “You’ll never have to get wet.”

“Not even your little toesies,” Julie said with giggle. He shoved her shoulder.

Even Kira was chuckling as Ethan clapped him on the shoulder one last time.

“Whatever, dude,” Conner said with a smile himself. “Are you guys ready? Or are you going to keep making fun of me?”

“Ready!”

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

“But we can totally still make fun of you, right?”

Conner shoved Julie as she went to sit on her back, knocking her off balance. She turned around to swat at him before they overheard Hayley coughing, and giving them a look.

Sheepishly, the Red and Pink Rangers straddled their cycles as another wall opened to reveal a spacious exit through the Murder Cave.

“Let’s do it!” Conner said.

They all agreed, Julie took one last gulp of air, before they revved their cycles and blast through the tunnels, coming out the other side.

“Woo-hoo!” Ethan cried, shoving a fist into the air. “Let’s go!”

It did take exactly 92.75 seconds before the bikes stopped on their own next to a lake on some hard sand. Julie got off, quickly, trying to regain her land legs from being on the bike. It was only a short amount of time, but she had no idea where they even were and they had gone _very_ fast.

“Whoa it just stopped,” Ethan said. “What’s up with that?”

“This must be where Hayley programmed the coordinates,” Kira answered. To prove her right, a bright green Invisiportal opened directly in front of them.

“There it is!”

Kira sighed, “I sure hope Dr. O is on the other side.”

“Only one way to find out,” Ethan said. Julie joined the others, staring into the dark mysteriousness of the portal and wondered if they were going to be able to go fast enough. She hadn’t forgotten the whole ‘possibly being ripped to shreds’ bit, it had actually been at the forefront of her mind.

“You guys ready?” Conner asked.

They all nodded, “You know it,” Ethan answered.

“Ready,” the girls said in unison.

Without any more talking, they ran back to their cycles and got on. Julie stroked the side of her’s lovingly, putting all of her prayers into the bike – hoping that it went fast enough.

Conner revved his engine just as another, large Invisiportal opened up and the Scary Leather Woman, the Ren Faire Reject, a bunch of Tyranno Drones and a weird squid looking monster appeared.

“Hey! No one invited you to the party,” Conner called.

“You’re definitely not invited,” Julie added.

“I’m crashing,” the woman yelled back. “And I brought a few friends. Is that rude?”

Kira scoffed, “Extremely.”

The Ren Fair reject stepped forward, “You’re not getting through that portal unless you’re in chains.”

“Sorry, chains aren’t my thing,” Julie said back. “I’m more of a fur type of person, maybe a velvet.”

“I might be able to pull that look off,” Kira added. “But these guys?” she motioned to the three others. “No way.”

“I vote we go for it,” Conner said, interrupting their banter.

Julie and Kira looked at each other and, even if they couldn’t see each other’s faces through the helmets, they knew each other was rolling their eyes.

“Yeah!” they still called out.

Julie revved her engine with the others and stepped off the ground, balancing her weight on the bike, before pushing forward.

“Attack!” the woman yelled. She pulled out her sword and the hoard of enemies started running down the hill, perpendicular to the Rangers.

“Firing lasers!” Conner called as he shot through a group of them. What his lasers didn’t take out, his cycle did as it ran them over.

“Heads up!” Kira yelled. She hit a bump and used it as a ramp, launching herself in the air. She, too, shot her lasers at the drones and hit them in mid-air with her cycle.

Julie heard shooting from closer to the water, only to hear Ethan shout, “My turn!”

“You’re gonna wish you stayed home today,” Julie shouted as she pressed the button to fire her lasers. She zigzagged through the crowd of drones, either hitting them with the laser or with the side of her bike. The last one, she couldn’t help but give a good, strong kick and watched him fall over in the mud.

She saw a blur of red and raced over to where Conner was fighting the woman _and_ the reject. She took out her sword and held it like a dagger as she drove by, trying to jam it into the reject’s armor.

He dodged, just in time, but Julie pulled herself into a wheelie and spun around on one wheel to face him again.

“Why can’t you just go away,” she said, angrily. The reject laughed, but she pressed forward and attacked once again, this time glancing a blow off him. She jumped off her cycle and gave him a corkscrew kick to the chest, only to knock him into the mud where his woman friend lay.

“We need to get through that portal!” She called to Conner.

He nodded at her before laughing, “Hey, watch this!”

The Red Ranger ramped up and flew just as the Ren Faire Reject stood up and pointed his sword at him. Blue lightning shot out of it, but Conner just managed to dodge it every time. She looked in awe as he landed and the guy kept firing the blue lighting, but instead of hitting him, Conner kept dodging on the cycle.

“You missed me!” he said as he swung around to a stop.

Julie drove up next to him as the Reject started to run towards them, but Conner got up on the seat of his cycle and jumped – delivering a powerful kick to the enemy’s chest, causing him to bounce back into the mud where Julie put him the first time.

“And you should’ve stayed there,” she said with a laugh.

“Guys, hurry!” Ethan yelled. “The portal’s still open!”

Conner nodded, “We can do it! Follow me!”

“On your six,” Julie called.

“Let’s go!” Kira added.

The quad revved their cycles, kicking up dirt and sand as they pressed forward. They hit a dune as a ramp just in time as a bolt of lightning from the woman’s sword hit the spot where they just were, kicking up sparks.

“Punch it!”

Julie let out a victory cry as she leaned forward as far as she could go, watching as the speedometer clicked up. 533…534…535…536-!

They raced inside the portal, just as it closed.

* * *

Julie held tightly to her bike as the portal opened, spitting them out in a dim hallway instead of outside on the island, like she had expected. She also quickly took stock of her person, realizing that all of her body parts were still there.

They had done it.

“Hayley, we’re in,” Conner said.

 _“Good,”_ she said through the communicators. _“I’ll recalibrate your bikes for the exit. You have about five minutes.”_

“Then let’s go get the good doctor,” Julie said, climbing off her bike.

The four of them ran through the halls, opening random doors trying to find where they were keeping Dr. Oliver. The klaxon alarm sounded loudly, the hallways tinted with red from the flashing, emergency lights.

“The lab should be around here,” Kira called as she demorphed. Julie had forgotten that she had actually been here before, not even all that long ago. “At least we still have the element of-“

One of the hallway doors opened and a _creature_ stepped out of it. Julie let out a gasp at the sight of it.

It was tall, and on it’s legs like a person. It had giant claws on both hands that looked _extra_ creepy due to the scales, but what was worse was it’s entire head.

Instead of a person’s head, it looked like someone’s drawing of a dinosaur. It was pale and waxy, and looked super slimy. It’s teeth were large and pointy and it’s sockets where it’s eyes were, were a gross, dried blood color.

“Welcome,” it said, it’s voice smooth. “We’ve been expecting you.”

“You remember me, I trust?” it asked, looking directly at Kira. Julie’s jaw dropped.

“I know you described him before, but I think you might have missed the overall _creepy_ and _murderous_ vibes,” she said through the side of the mouth at the other girl. The boys just looked on in horror as they all started to back away.

Kira let out an anxious laugh, “Like I could forget that face?”

“Uhh, what part’s his face?” Ethan asked.

Julie scoffed, “You know, the part with the _very sharp teeth_.”

They kept backing up until the hit a wall where there definitely hadn’t been one before.

“Obviously, you are in need of some discipline,” the monster, Mesogog, said.

He held up his hands and Julie braced herself for whatever he was going to throw at them, but luckily, the squad from earlier showed up and appeared right in the way, taking whatever damage that would have hit them.

“This way!” Kira called.

Julie dodged around the group of monsters that were now shrieking with pain and continued running through the hall.

“Stop them, now!” Mesogog called, sending the monsters after them.

Kira led them through the twisting hallways, only to enter a room that Julie couldn’t help but to look around at in awe. Jars and vials filled with all sorts of different colors and chemicals and _beings_ lined the walls.

“Good timing!” Came a very familiar voice.

Julie looked over and saw Dr. Oliver strapped to a chair with a giant spike that was _radiating energy_ slowly moving towards him.

The teenagers ran over to untie him, and he said, “Hit the red button on the panel!”

Ethan did just that as Julie put herself under Dr. O’s shoulder to hold him steady as he stood up. The button shut the door just in time as Mesogog and his goons let out a shriek of anger.

“I should’ve known you’d try to rescue me,” Dr. O said, immediately taking over and pushing buttons.

Ethan scoffed, “Is that your way of saying thank you? ‘Cause if so, it needs some work.”

Dr. O let out a laugh that sounded more like a stress sigh than anything, “I’ll thank you for real when we get outta here.”

He pulled a lever down before saying, “We can use the main Invisiportal network.” A glowing green Invisiportal opened in the corner of the room. “Hayley gave you the Raptor Cycles, right? This way.” He turned and immediately started to storm off, but Ethan grabbed him.

“Wait! We need to talk,” he said, a hand on Dr. O’s chest.

“Go,” he commanded. “I’ll explain everything later.”

“We already know everything,” Conner interrupted.

Kira nodded, “We found the video diary.”

“Which, is one more thing to be added to list of discussion, but still,” Julie added.

“We know you’re a Power Ranger,” Ethan finished.

“’Was’ Ethan,” Dr. O said. “Not anymore.”

Then, the doors that had been holding so far reopened at Mesogog and the goons strolled in like they were on their way to brunch instead of to potentially destroy a group of teenagers and their teacher.

“Ranger or not,” Mesogog said, clearly having eavesdropped on their conversation. “You’re mine now.”

“Excuse you, I don’t belong to any man,” Julie said primly.

Dr. Oliver groaned, “I hate when he gets like this.”

Conner stepped forward, placing a hand on Dr. O’s shoulder to move him out of the way. “We can take it from here, Dr. O.”

He stepped forward and the others followed him, Julie saw Dr. Oliver run out of the side of her eye.

“Ready?” Conner asked.

“Ready!” The other three answered, in unison.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

They immediately pulled out their swords as Mesogog calmly commanded, “Attack.”

Julie ran forward, holding her sword aloft as she sliced at one, two, three of the Tyranno Drones. Whenever one would block, she would kick it and then immediately turn and be met with two more. It was like they never stopped.

The Pink Ranger watched as Dr. Oliver was thrown to the ground and ran over to try and help him fight Mesogog.

“Head for the portal!” he called as the four of them made to help. “I gotta get something! Hurry!”

“This is no time for a shopping trip Dr. Oliver!” Julie yelled.

“We’d better do as he says,” Conner said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She nodded and, with the others, jumped into the portal, disappearing in a flash of light.

The immediately hopped onto their bikes as soon as they came out of the portal, only for Dr. Oliver to appear a second behind them, holding a giant crystal in his arms.

“You made it!” Kira said, surprised.

“Do we really need a souvenir?” Conner asked.

“I can assure you, crystals don’t work,” Julie added, looking at it, concerned.

Another Invisiportal opened in front of them.

“This one we do,” Dr. O insisted.

“There they are!”

“Go,” Dr. Oliver commanded. “I’m right behind you!”

The Rangers nodded and hit the throttle, racing into the open Invisiportal without looking back. Their teacher had been a Power Ranger, he could definitely take care of himself.

They came out of the other side of the portal in the middle of the city. The four of them stopped their cycles and looked around.

“Where is he?” Conner asked.

The Invisiportal opened once again and Dr. Oliver came out, landing firmly on his feet.

Within seconds, _another_ Invisiportal opened and the goon squad appeared.

The Ren Faire Reject held his sword out and did the thing where he shot blue lightning through it, straight at Dr. Oliver, but he had a plan and held the crystal he had stolen from Mesogog in the way. The lightning hit it directly, but didn’t reach Dr. Oliver.

“Dr.O!” Conner called, and made to run towards the other man but Ethan and Julie held him back.

The light from the lightning bolt hitting the crystal started to get brighter and brighter, causing some sort of reaction. They watched as Dr. Oliver stood strong, but soon the power from the lightning got to be _too_ strong and he was thrown backwards, causing an explosion so bright it blocked out her vision even with the helmet visor so Julie couldn’t see anything.

Whenever it cleared, the place where Dr. Oliver had been was empty – just a pile of broken crystal remained.

“Dr. Oliver!” Ethan called.

“No!” Kira sank to the ground, defeated. “This can’t be happening.”

“Such negativity,” the woman said with a smirk. “Haven’t you learned that, in our world, anything’s possible?”

“Even the destruction of the great, Dr. Tommy Oliver,” Ren Faire Reject added.

“Well haven’t you learned that the good guys always win,” Julie called out passionately. She held out her hand to call out her Stego Axe to attack, frustrated at the turn of events but unwilling to give up.

“I heard my name,” Julie let out a gasp as Dr. Oliver appeared out of nowhere, exactly where he had been, holding a black gem. “You missed me, didn’t you Zeltrax?”

“ _That’s_ its name?” Ethan muttered to Julie as she stared in shock.

“I’ve totally been calling him Renaissance Faire Reject in my head,” she said back. “At least it’ll be shorter.”

Both groups stared in shock for a moment before the reappearance of Dr. Oliver finally caught up to them.

“All right!” “You’re okay!” “You made it!”

“Hey Dr. O,” Conner asked, grabbing their teacher’s hand as it started to glow. “What’s this?”

He opened his palm and Julie got a good look at the gem, recognizing it instantly.

“A black Dino Gem!” Ethan answered, before she could say anything. “Let me guess – the power of invisibility!”

“Looks like it,” Dr. O answered, smugly.

The woman-with-Zeltrax (she really needed to figure out her name) let out a cry of anger.

“That Gem belongs to my master!”

Dr. Oliver stood firm. “There’s two thing you need to learn about Dino Gems,” he said, as if he were in front of a class and not in front of a hoard of monsters. “One – you can’t choose them, they choose you.”

“What’s the other?” she asked.

“They go really well with Dino Morphers.”

Julie watched as Dr. Oliver pulled up his sleeve and saw a Dino Morpher rested on it, as if it had been waiting for this moment. Her jaw dropped as he took the gem and slammed it into the morpher, causing it to glow.

“Hmm. Aren’t you a little old for this, Tommy?” the woman retorted.

“I may be old, but I can still pull it off,” he said with a smug smile.

His morpher was different that the four of theirs, as a key he had apparently been holding in his opposite arm sleeve fell into his hand.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!” he said as he inserted the key into the side of the morpher and turned.

He appeared in a flash of light, wearing a suit slightly different than the others, but still had the logo on the chest and the markings up the sides. Instead of white, however, his accents were golden. He also had some _fierce_ shoulder pads and a fin on his helmet.

“Just like riding a bike,” he said, rolling his shoulders and readjusting to the presence of the Power.

“One more makes no difference,” Zeltrax said, calmly, before commanding, “Attack!”

The Tyranno Drones and the squid monster burst towards them, but the Rangers, with their new addition, were ready.

Dr. Oliver took off after a group of drones and Zeltrax, Ethan and Kira went to fight the squid monster, leaving the woman to Conner and Julie.

The three of them were engaged in a sword fight, and, despite their numbers, the Ranger’s inexperience led them to be disadvantaged against the woman who apparently had years of swords training under her belt.

She swung and Conner caught her in a block while Julie raised her own sword above her head, ready for her next move.

“We are not intimidated by your teacher,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Then you’ve honestly never taken one of his pop quizzes,” Conner said as he pushed her sword over him to get her in front. She kicked him back, but Julie jumped into her place, catching her in another block.

“For real,” she said, “Dr. Oliver is the _king_ of doing your reading from the night before. If you don’t? Oof. You’re in trouble.” She pushed back with a groan before kicking out and knocking the woman back with a yell. She flew back a couple of feet, but it gave Conner enough time to stand up.

The woman ran towards the two of them and blocked both of their attacks at once, but they pushed her through the middle of their block and kicked her in the chest. She stumbled back, panting hard.

“We will meet again, Rangers,” she said with a sneer before disappearing into an Invisiportal.

“Fine!” Conner said, to the place where she had been.

The two of them nodded to each other before running over to where Kira and Ethan had been taking care of business with the squid guy.

“Hey guys,” Conner said.

“Miss us?” Julie added with a laugh.

“Oh, you were gone? Didn’t even notice.”

“You okay?” Ethan asked.

Conner scoffed, “Better than he is,” he said, gesturing to the now stumbling monster of the day.

“Let’s put ‘em together,” Ethan suggested. Julie summoned her axe and twirled it in her hand like an oversized drumstick.

“Yeah, good call!”

The four of them linked their weapons together, Julie getting on her knees in front to hold the beast of a weapon up.

“Z-Red Blaster!”

“Don’t be a pollinator-hater!” the monster cried.

“Wait, it’s _not_ a squid?”

“No, I think it is,” Ethan explained. “Just… one that fights with plants? Honestly, I’m not too sure.”

“Ready?” Kira asked, bringing their attention back to the matter at hand.

“Fire!” Conner commanded. The bolt of energy fired from the end of the blaster and hit the monster dead on, disintegrating him.

“Don’t celebrate just yet,” Julie muttered as they broke the Z-Rex Blaster down. “You know he’s just going to-“

The sky went black and it started to rain. The Pink Ranger watched as the pieces of the monster reformed and grew to the size of a skyscraper, again.

“-grow,” she finished weakly.

The teenagers ran up to their mentor, now their fifth Ranger, as he held up his communicator.

“Hayley?”

 _“Welcome back,”_ she said. Julie could hear the smile in her voice. _“I’ve got a little homecoming present for you, I found it on the north side of the forest.”_

Julie looked around as the sound of giant footsteps only for her jaw to drop as a giant, boxy Dino Zord crested over the hill.

_“Meet the Brachio Zord. Retrieving the Black Gem must have awakened him.”_

“Oh wow,” Kira said, staring up at it in awe. Julie could only nod in agreement.

 _“Wait till you see what he has inside,”_ a hatch disengaged from the Brachio Zord. _“I think you can handle it from here.”_

The top, front, and sides all opened up like an actual dollhouse and the Tyranno, Tricera, Ptera, and Stego Zords all popped out.

“Aww, it’s like a stroller, but for Zords,” Julie couldn’t help but comment. Kira laughed.

The four Zords started to run towards them and Julie popped her feet together and jumped, before landing in the cockpit of her Stego, but it didn’t take long for the four of them to come together into their Thundersaurus MegaZord configuration.

Julie stood her ground as the feet of the MegaZord as the squid/plant monster started to spin in circles, hitting them with its tentacles/vines and trying to knock them off balance.

“Hold strong, Julie!” Conner called.

“I’m trying!” she replied. She bent her knees and stayed as steady as she could, despite the sparks going off inside the Zord.

The vines/tentacles wrapped around them, pulling them closer to the monster as it said, “Feel the love,” and sent bolts of energy through them, shocking the Zord and causing massive amounts of damage.

“We’re getting rocked,” Conner said.

“We could use some reinforcements!” Ethan added, looking around for Dr. Oliver and the Brachio Zord, hoping that they could do something.

“Hayley,” Kira asked. “You got any more surprises?”

 _“Sure do,”_ she replied. _“Try the Cephalo Zord.”_

The what now?

The top of the Brachio Zord opened once again and another Dino Zord popped out, this one purple with a golden helmet surrounded by spikes. Its fists were punching gloves and it bounced over towards them, giving the plant/squid guy the ol’ one, two.

 _“The Cephalo Zord can link up with your MegaZord,”_ Dr. O explained, “for even more power!”

“Did you guys hear that?” Conner asked. “Let’s do it! Ready.”

The middle of Julie’s center console started to spin as the Tricera arm fell away from the Zord and the Cephalo Zord condensed into the new arm, it’s hard head becoming a giant punching glove.

“Cephalo Power Punch!”

The Cephalo arm reared back and shot forward, one, two, three times – hitting the monster directly each time, the last one, four, hitting it so hard it flew up into the sky before exploding into a bunch of pieces.

 _“Good job guys,”_ they heard Dr. O call over the comms.

* * *

Later, all four of them packed tight onto one of the couches at Cyberspace as Hayley had to get back to work to clean up. Thankfully, the place was closed so they could talk freely.

“What a day,” Ethan said. “New bikes, new Zords-“

“New Ranger,” Conner added. “Well, sort of new.”

“Kind of fossilized, but, you know, not complaining,” Julie added with a smirk.

Instead of getting mad, Dr. O just laughed, sitting on the couch opposite from them.

“Dr. O, are you going to tell us how you happened to have that morpher ready?” Kira asked with a smirk.

Dr. O grinned, “Right after you guys became Rangers, I got an energy reading on the tracking system. I had a good idea it was another Gem, so, I had Hayley build a morpher just in case.”

Hayley walked over at the point and sat on the arm of the couch, she handed Dr. O a cup of what looked like coffee and Julie wished she had asked for one because, man, was she tired.

“And the day of my gig?” Kira asked.

“I was coming to tell you guys the energy had moved, and we needed to investigate,” he explained.

“When you were nabbed by the goon patrol,” Conner finished. “Brutal.”

“Yeah,” Dr. Oliver said. “But it all turned out okay.” He stood up, thanking Hayley for the coffee. “Well, I better get going.”

“Going?” Hayley asked, confused. “Where are you going?”

Dr. O leaned against the back of the couch and said, with a smile, “Shopping. I checked my closet this morning, and there’s a serious shortage of black in there.”

They all laughed as he turned and strolled away.

“So the color-coding is a thing,” Julie confirmed. “I had been wondering, I mean, before, I liked pink but I definitely didn’t wear it every day.”

“I tried to wear a green shirt the other day,” Kira started. “And it just felt… wrong.”

“It’s because your color is linked to the Morphing Grid,” came a new, familiar voice. “And, while you’re an active Ranger, wearing your color gives you more power, makes you more stable. We did research on this a couple of years ago with the Wild Force Team.”

Julie looked up and gasped, seeing her older brother standing inside of Hayley’s Cyberspace. The other Rangers all dropped their jaws as they looked back and forth between the siblings.

“Imagine my surprise, Little Pain, when you don’t show up for dinner, but a giant monster makes the evening news,” Justin Stewart, Blue Turbo and youngest Ranger to have ever served on Earth, said. “You have some explaining to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Power Ranger's Day! Did I plan for this chapter to come out today? No. But does it work? Absolutely!


	6. Diva in Distress

Julie sat at their kitchen table, watching anxiously as her brother Justin – an ex-Power Ranger – reheated their Chinese food that he had ordered for the dinner that she had missed. The car ride back home from Cyberspace had been completely silent; she had sat, tense, waiting for him to explode on her.

But it never came.

The other Rangers had been blowing up her phone nonstop, asking if she was okay and how everything was going, but she hadn’t been able to reply because Justin hadn’t actually said _anything_ yet. She could only watch as he bustled around the kitchen, getting out silverware and setting it on the table, not making eye contact with her.

Finally, once everything had been reheated, Justin sat it all on the table and sat down across from her, pulling the container of orange chicken towards him and taking out a few pieces. Julie was about to fully combust, before he finally spoke.

“So Pink, huh?”

She thought she had died for a moment before she smiled across the table at him. He wasn’t angry, or at least his face didn’t make him _seem_ angry. He actually had a smug smirk on his face.

“So Blue, huh?” she replied. He laughed. Julie felt her body relax as she reached forward and took the offered container of chicken, placing some on her plate. They hadn’t stopped for food after the battle and she was _starving_.

“Who was it that told you?” Justin asked. “I didn’t recognize anybody there. And I know you didn’t tell anyone else that you were a Ranger, or they would have told me before you even finished talking.”

“Dr. Oliver,” she explained. “You were on a team with him? He was Red Turbo.”

He choked for a second on his food, “Dr. Oliver? Dr. _Tommy_ Oliver?” she nodded. “Man, last I heard he wanted to race cars.”

Julie snorted, “Yeah no. He’s our science teacher. He’s been our mentor up until the past couple of days when he was kidnapped by Mesogog, our big evil guy, and we had to rescue him.”

“So did he actually tell you? Or did he keep it quiet and you find out from someone else? He was always like that, at least with me.”

“That’s because you were twelve, Big Brain,” she said as she shook her head. “No, he left behind a video in case something happened to him and we found it. I almost puked when I saw you morph, not gonna lie.”

“ _I_ almost puked the first time I morphed,” he admitted with a grin. “So, everything’s okay? Tommy is good?”

“Yeah you just missed him,” she answered. “He left right before you got there to go shopping for black clothes. I’m surprised you didn’t pass each other in the parking lot.”

Justin paused, his fork (he had never been able to master chopsticks) an inch from his face. “Shopping for… black clothes?”

She nodded, “Yeah. He bonded with the black Dino Gem and became a Power Ranger. Or, re-became a Power Ranger?” Julie shrugged. “I’m not sure how that works.”

Her older brother was silent for a minute as he stared at her, blankly, before he dissolved into laughter. Julie watched, confused, as he stood up and walked over to the table where they had laid their phones and picked his up. He pressed a couple of buttons and held it up to his ear, calling someone.

“Hey Rocky,” he started, a bright smile on his face and laughter dropping from his mouth intermittently, “you’ll _never_ guess what Julie just told me about Tommy, who is, fun fact, her _high school science teacher_.”

The Pink Ranger let out a relieved sigh and finally started to eat, her brother wasn’t angry at her and, while she knew new questions were coming, especially since he was currently telling all of his friends who used to be Rangers, she was in the clear.

She would probably need to send a fruit basket to Dr. O though – he was about to get it from his past teammates and it _was_ kind of her fault.

* * *

“Julie!” Ethan called as she walked into Cyberspace the next day. “You’re alive!”

Julie grinned, brightly, holding onto the strap of her backpack tightly. After her brother had told _all_ of the previous Turbo Rangers, the two of them had sat down and a long talk about expectations of being a Ranger in high school with extracurriculars and things. She knew, herself, that she wasn’t going to let her grades or practice slip, but Justin had said that he would help cover for her if need be. It was the least he could do, after all the covering she did for him when they were preteens. And she hadn't even known he was a Ranger! She had just been doing it because he was her brother.

“At least you aren’t twelve,” he had said. “It was so hard getting around mom to go do things, I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. Imagine if she knew I was _driving_.”

Still, she had had practice this morning, running her long program before Worlds in a couple of months, and had a stack of history homework she had been putting off so she rolled into Cyberspace with a drive to get it done.

“Hey Ethan,” she said, sitting next to him. “What if I was actually dead? And you’re just seeing a ghost?”

“Or a zombie,” Conner added. She nodded at him and dropped her bag on the table.

The three of them and Dr. Oliver had commandeered a table in the bustling Cyberspace to watch Kira and her band perform. Unsurprisingly, they had passed the audition the week before and now had a regular spot to perform a couple of times a week.

“Yeah, thanks for that,” Dr. O said with a grin. “I can’t tell you how expensive my phone bill will be.”

Julie grimaced, “Sorry, Dr. O,” she said. “But it was you or me and, well.” He waved her off.

“Nah it’s fine,” he said. “It was… nice getting to talk to everyone again, so I should really be thanking you.” Julie let out a sigh of relief. “But you are going to have to write a five-page paper on the history of paleontology to make up for it, due Friday.”

Ethan clapped her on the shoulder in commiseration as she mentally added it to the already substantial work load that she had.

The Pink Ranger looked up to the stage to see Kira nervously fiddling with the tuners on her guitar, but she smiled at them, quickly, and started to play – the rest of her band behind her starting as well.

Kira was good, Julie had to admit. She didn’t know much about music, but she could totally see her playing big concert halls and stadiums one day. Her lyrics had a meaning and the Yellow Ranger told stories through her songs in a way that a lot of people weren’t able to do.

The song that she was singing was a familiar one, only because she had plucked away at it and wrote it during lunch one day last week while her and Julie sat in Dr. O’s room to hide from Principal Randall who had been on a war path, and Julie couldn’t help but bob her head and smile as she watched her friend (because Kira was actually a friend, now) do what she loves to do.

When the song ended, the four of them clapped and cheered as loud as they could, but the noise from the other patrons of Cyberspace kind of dulled them out. That still didn’t stop them, however, as they screamed and cheered for their teammate. Kira, however, at the end hopped off the stage and walked over to their table, all but throwing herself into the seat with a sad look on her face.

“That was awesome,” Conner said with a grin. “Is that something new?”

“Yeah,” she admitted, the corners of her mouth turning up. “I’m still working on the hook, but I think there’s something there.”

“It definitely sounds better over the sound systems than it did in Dr. O’s classroom,” Julie said with a grin. Kira smiled back, sheepishly.

“I’m telling you,” Ethan started, “if this superhero gig doesn’t work out, you definitely have a musical career to fall back on.”

“It’s kind of hard to have a musical career when you can’t even get anyone to listen to you play,” Kira stressed.

Trent walked over and sat a bottle of her favorite kind of apple juice on the table in front of her and interjected, “Well, I was listening and I think you rock.”

Kira smiled up at him before asking, “What are you working on?”

Julie looked up from where she had pulled out her history textbook, yawn, to see Trent covering up a sketchbook, “Not until it’s done.”

“Nobody appreciates good music anymore,” Dr. O stated. “All you hear on the radio is that pop garbage.”

“Yeah like whatshername, Kylee Styles?” Hayley said as she walked up. Julie raised her eyebrows at the sudden party that surrounded their table.

“Hey now,” Conner started. “Kylee Styles has some good music.”

The Pink Ranger snorted. “Good, right. If I have see another ice skating program to ‘What About You’ I’m going to let a Zamboni drive over me.” Ethan elbowed her in the side.

“Translation,” Ethan said. “He thinks she’s fine.”

“No I don’t!” Conner denied, before shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, yeah, I do. But! That has nothing to do with it.”

Julie rolled her eyes at him as Kira started to speak, “You know, she used to be a really good songwriter,” she said. “She _was_ really sweet, too. Now? She’s all about her image.”

“You say that like you two are friends,” Ethan asked, confused.

“We used to be,” the Yellow Ranger confirmed. Julie looked at both Conner and Ethan skeptically, before Kira defended herself. “What? It’s true! We were in a band together.” She rolled her eyes. “Then she got discovered by this agent, and now she’s a huge pop diva.”

“Oh come on,” Conner started. “You don’t expect us to believe that do you?” Julie stepped on his foot.

“Believe what you want,” Kira said. “It’s true.”

“No matter what these three think,” Dr. O said, interjecting. “I believe you, Kira. One of the Yellows, Tanya, is a singer. If you want, I could introduce you sometime.”

“Tanya is actually coming over in a couple of weeks, I’m sure she’d love to get dinner with you – not just as another singer, but as a fellow Yellow,” Julie added. “Justin is really banking on the ‘Make Fun of Dr. O For Being A Ranger’ plan that he and the others came up with last night so a bunch of them are going to be visiting soon.” She looked over at their teacher, who looked stunned. “Sorry, but at least you have some warning.”

"That paper? Now it's seven pages."

Her mood sank as Ethan spoke up, “Ah, here’s your chance to prove it,” he said. “According to her fan site, she’s going to be in town to promote her new CD.”

“Oh, we are _so_ there!” Conner insisted, excited. “And since you are such good buddies, you can hook me up!” Julie rolled her eyes at him.

“Sorry, but you can take me, out of that we,” she said. She gave an apologetic look to Kira. “I have a lot of work to do – Worlds are coming up in a few weeks and I can’t get my triple loop down and Mr. Hamilton is assigning _so_ much homework despite making us watch _Titanic_ for the third time – I barely have time to sleep as it is.”

Ethan gave her a pitying look, as Trent stood up, calling out to someone, before walking away.

Dr. O stood up as well and followed after him, startled.

“Dr. O?” Conner asked as he walked away. “You in there?”

“Who’s that guy?” Kira asked, confused. Julie looked around and spotted Trent talking to a man in a nice, three-piece suit that had just walked in. Dr. Oliver walked up to him as well, stunned, but no matter how hard she strained her ears Julie couldn’t overhear.

The teenagers watched as Dr. O leaned up, whispering something to the man, only for the man to clap him on the shoulders before walking out. Their teacher walked back over to their table in a daze, actually sitting in the chair he had vacated a few moments ago instead of sitting _on_ it like he had been.

“Who was that, Doc?” Ethan asked.

Their teacher shook himself out of his stupid, “That was my research partner,” he explained. “Anton Mercer.”

“Umm, didn’t he die?” Julie couldn’t help but ask. “I thought you said the island was destroyed.”

“It was,” Dr. O insisted. “I just – he said he was lucky and got away, but he hadn’t reached out. I spent all these years thinking he was dead and-“

“Hey it’s okay,” Conner insisted. “He’s alive now, right? And he lives here? You can meet up again and be buddies in no time.” He suddenly sat forward, like he had an idea. “Hey! Maybe he can help with the whole Mesogog/Tyranno Drone business! He helped create them, right?”

Julie sighed as she gave up, putting her books and notes away. She could work on the homework after practice tomorrow.

* * *

Two days later, Julie had started to camp out on the floor of Dr. O’s lab. She had an ice pack on each knee and her left shin, and her textbooks strewn out around her. She had been there all morning, having been dropped off by her brother right after practice and getting there right as Kira and Conner left for the Kylee Styles signing.

Justin and Dr. O had drank a cup of coffee together in the actual house part of Dr. O’s living space, catching up for the first time as years and the first time that they were both adults. Julie wished she could have been there, but she had a ton of work to do – including finishing the _seven_ page paper of Dr. Oliver’s.

Once she had been studying for hours, she looked up from her notes and stretched, only to see Ethan (when did he get there?), Conner (when had he gotten back?) and Dr. O huddled over the computer screens that monitored Reefside and the surrounding areas.

“A donkey that can extract the youth out of people?” Ethan asked. Julie pushed aside her books and used the table she had been leaning against to pull herself up.

“Mesogog’s probably found a way to harness youth into energy,” Dr. O explained as she hobbled over to them. “We have to figure out a way to fight it.”

The monster on the screen was, frankly, terrifying, Julie realized. Then again, most of the abominations that Mesogog came up with were. She watched as the video kept replaying on a loop of the donkey monster sucking the youth out of the people downtown, as if it were a vacuum.

“Where’s Kira?” Dr. O asked.

“She’s taken Kylee to Cyberspace,” Conner explained. “I think she’s having a meltdown over seeing herself all old and shriveled up.” He sighed. “I gotta admit, it was kind of brutal.”

“We’ll talk about respect for your elders later,” Dr. Oliver said with a frown. “Right now, there’s something we need to take care of.”

“Are you going to okay?” Julie startled away from looking at the screens to see Ethan looking at her, concerned. She put a smile on her face and nodded.

“I’ll be fine,” she said. “Morphing helps your body heal, or so Justin tells me. I’ll be good to go.”

The Blue Ranger looked skeptical as she grinned wider, but Dr. O and Conner moved away from the desk and she quickly followed.

“Let’s do it,” Dr. O instructed.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

* * *

Once in the suit, Julie felt the soreness leave her muscles and she stood on her toes to stretch out her legs. Ethan was still looking at her, concerned. She waved him off.

“See? Good as new,” she explained. “The Morphing Grid takes care of its Rangers.”

The four of them hurried downtown, looking for the Donkeyvac to try and stop it. Literally, all they had to do was follow the trail of screaming old people who, Julie had guessed, hadn’t been old for that longer than the past few of minutes.

Finally, they skidded to a stop directly in front of the monster, only for it to see them and start booking it towards them.

“It’s even uglier in person,” she couldn’t help but say, before letting out a yell and charging into the fray with the others.

The four of them did what they could, trying to fight it, but the Donkeyvac kept getting the jump on them – either blocking their strikes, throwing them away or tripping Conner, causing him to flip and land painfully on his back.

“Suckers!” the monster yelled.

“I’m calling Kira!” Julie shouted. She saw Dr. Oliver nod and tried to page her with the communicator, dodging a swipe from the monster in the meantime.

She didn’t answer.

“We need Kira!” Ethan yelled.

“I called her,” Conner replied, as he landed on the ground next to him, “she’s not answering!”

Julie was thrown too and skidded a bit as she landed in between them. She winced, that would hurt later. “I tried too and got nothing.”

They stood back up and jumped back into the fray, trying to land a hit on the bulky monster.

“Oh, here we go,” Julie muttered as she saw Cassidy and Devin run up, Cassidy holding a microphone and Devin his trusty camera.

“Get away!” Dr. O called. However, the two ‘reporters’ ignored him.

“Cassidy Cornell, Reefside Reporter,” she said, running up to where Conner was single-handedly trying to fight the monster to give the others a second to breathe. “When did you figure out you were evil? Did you feel unloved as a little… whatever it is you are?”

The Donkeyvac turned towards her and Julie let out a groan.

“Why, Cassidy,” it started. “Being evil has always come very natural to me.” It shook itself. “What am I doing? Give me your YOUTH!”

It reached out, Julie noticing that its arms were connected to a hose for a vacuum on its back, before shooting a bright white light at the two teenagers, a red energy sucking their life force away.

“Oh great,” Cassidy said, as soon as it stopped. She was looking down at herself in horror – her blonde hair had turned completely gray and her face was more winkled than a raisin. “It’s hard enough being a woman in this profession, now I have to fight ageism, too!”

Julie tried to watch as the two shuffled away, but the Donkeyvac started attacking them again.

She looked and saw Dr. Oliver rushing towards Conner, who was _still_ fighting the monster on his own, only to see Zeltrax slide in front of him, cutting off his route. Julie groaned and looked around for the rest of the Goon Squad that surely were not far behind.

“Julie come on!” she nodded at Ethan and jumped back into the fray, trying to land a hit on the stupid thing, only for it to push them out of the way and start running.

“Catch me if you can!” it yelled.

The three Rangers chased the Donkeyvac to a tennis court, cornering him.

“I tried Kira again,” she said, trying to catch her breath. “Hopefully-“

“All right,” Conner interjected, pointing his sword at the monster. “We’ve got you cornered!”

The monster laughed. “That’s what you think!”

Julie thought he couldn’t get any worse, but the Power lived to prove her wrong as the Donkey started to shoot, of all things, _pomegranates_ out its nose and at them. She felt herself get hit and go flying.

“It’s over Rangers,” it said, scuffing its foot on the ground as if it were going to charge at them like a bull.

“This guy is brutal,” Ethan said, forcing himself to stand.

“I don’t know much more we can take,” Julie added, worried.

An ear-piercing scream started and, as Julie tried to cover her ears, she couldn’t had been more thankful as Kira showed up, unmorphed, and knocked the monster back with her scream.

“A little warning next time,” she asked, shaking her head and going to stand next to her team.

“Sorry guys,” she said as Conner started complaining about his ears. “I should’ve given you a heads up on the Ptera Scream.”

“Ya think?”

“Well, now ya know.”

The Donkeyvac stood up and rubbed it’s hands… hooves? Together. “Excellent, more youth for me.”

“I don’t think so,” Kira said with a smirk, holding up her morpher.

“Ptera Power! Yellow Ranger!” she said, once she had morphed. “Thunder Max Sabers!” she called.

The three others joined her in pulling out their swords, striking at the monster in unison only for it to block _all_ their attacks with _one hand_ and swipe at them with the other, knocking them away.

Julie groaned from the ground as she watched Kira stand up, picking up a discarded tennis racket and a couple of balls.

“Think you’re up for a singles match?” The Yellow Ranger called.

“You’re no match for me!” The Donkeyvac gloated.

She heard Kira snort, “We’ll see about that!”

She threw the two balls high into the air, jumping up after them and hitting them, hard, dodging the fruity projectiles from the monster’s nose the entire time. Kira had great aim, as the tennis balls plugged his nostrils, causing him to be unable to fire at them!

Then, he burst into sparks and flew back, smashing into the fence and breaking it.

“Put ‘em together, guys!” Kira called.

“Ready?” Conner asked, once all their weapons were combined. He went to aim, and Julie slid underneath the blaster, holding it up and wincing at the stress on her knees.

“Go for it!” Kira answered.

“Z-Rex Blaster! Fire!” all four called in unison.

Their aim hit true, demolishing the monster into pieces that quickly caught on fire. Julie let out a sigh of relief as she stood up and started cheering with the others.

The celebration was cut short as the sky grew dark once more and rain started to fall, only for the monster to grow exponentially. Julie groaned.

“Why do they always go big?” she asked.

“Dr. Oliver!” Kira called into her communicator. “This might be a good time for some heavy metal.”

 _“You got it_.” They heard over their comms.

Julie watched as the familiar form of the Brachio Zord crested over the skyline, its back and sides opening, and their Zords launching themselves out and towards them.

She waited no time in jumping into the cockpit of her Stego Zord, feeling its concern brush over her mind. Julie pet the console, soothing it, before it started changing to be the strong legs of the Thundersaurus MegaZord.

“Pomegranates away!”

Hundreds of orbs flew out of its nose, hitting the MegaZord directly. Julie almost couldn’t stay balanced as they struck, knocking them back.

“Julie!” Conner called, trying to regain control.

“I’m working on it,” she said through gritted teeth, wondering why she had to be the legs of the operation.

“Super suction!” the monster called. She tried not to whine, not knowing how much more they could take.

The bright light that had stolen the youth from Cassidy and Devin attached to them and started to drain the energy of the MegaZord and pull them forward until they were right up on it.

“Now I’ve got you!” the monster declared.

It sent a shock through them, but at this point, Conner was done.

“Let’s sink our teeth into this fight!” he said, ignoring the shocks. He pushed a button on his console and the T-Rex head in the middle of the Zord’s torso opened its mouth and clamped down on the monster’s nose.

“Ptera Rang!” Kira called as soon as they had broken free from the Donkeyvac’s hold.

The boomerang flew true and struck, before coming back. The monster started to spark as Conner yelled, “Dino Drill, Engage!” and the drill arm started to spin.

The MegaZord swung and knocked into the monster’s ribs, causing it to fall forward and explode just before it hit the ground, letting out a blast of green energy that sailed through the city, presumably restoring the stolen youth to all of the victims.

Julie let out a sigh, thankful it was finally over.

At least, until Mesogog sent something else after them.

* * *

The Pink Ranger pulled one of her legs up into the chair she was sitting in at Cyberspace as Kira stepped up to the stage. The others were standing close to the stage, but she was still to sore to be standing for too long and she had another practice early tomorrow morning, so she needed to be as healed as possible.

The crowd was huge tonight, it being a weekend, and they all actually seemed interested in the Yellow Ranger and her band and Julie couldn’t help but smile at the recognition that her friend was getting – even if she could barely see the stage herself.

“This is a song I wrote a long time ago with a friend,” Kira said with a smile. “I hope you like it.”

She didn’t have her bright yellow electric guitar tonight, only her acoustic and, when she started playing, the room hushed.

The song was soft, about friendship and Julie felt herself rock to the beat – only for her jaw to drop while the rest of the crowd gasped as _Kylee Styles_ walked onto the stage with a microphone in her hand and started singing with her.

Julie stood up and waded her way through the crowd to the front, standing between Conner and Dr. O who looked at her concerned for a moment before she let out a cheer for her friend. She felt Ethan move to stand behind her and she smiled, content, at the support of her friends.

The song ended and the two girls on stage hugged, causing the entire crowd to burst into cheers. The Rangers joined in, brightly.

Sometimes, things worked out okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I've solidified a pretty solid posting schedule. I have enough of a back of chapters ready to go, so it looks like I'll be doing two chapters every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless something changes so keep an eye out. Have a good weekend!


	7. Game On

The stale chill of the rink had long since passed being a wake-up call and was now something that Julie wanted to get out of as fast as she could, but she still had thirty more minutes of training time with her coach for the day. She was dripping with sweat despite the cold temperatures and she could feel her legs shake as she pushed forward on the ice.

Music coursed through the silent arena as the Pink Ranger easily fell into the steps that had been drilled into her head for the past three months.

Twizzle. Toe Loop. Camel Spin. Double Salchow. Shoot the Duck. Triple Lutz. Double Lutz.

Floor.

The music came to a complete stop as Julie lay on the floor of the rink, the ice shards that she had ripped up from her skate catching slowly falling around her. She heard the familiar _swish_ ing sound of skates and opened her eyes to see Coach Theresa looking down on her, worriedly.

“I didn’t hit my head,” Julie said, one of the first things she had spoken since getting out of bed three hours ago. “And my leg feels fine.”

She watched as Theresa let out a relieved sigh and wanted to do nothing more than continue laying down on the ice and closing her eyes, but the main lights in the building started to come on and she could hear more voices as people started to trickle in.

Julie took the offered hand of her coach and stood up, shaking off the falling ice and straightening out her jacket. Theresa smiled at her, sadly.

“We’ve got another month and a half until Worlds,” her coach said. “If you can’t get the Triple-Double down in the next week, we’ll have to cut it, but it’s fine. You have-“

“-I have to put a good showing because it’s my first time back on the ice,” Julie finished, a sardonic grin on her face. “I know Coach. Believe me.”

Theresa lightly patted her on the shoulder and declared practice over for the day. The teenager almost didn’t wait for her to finish talking before she skated over to the edge of the rink and stepped out, placing her guards on her skates so she could easily walk over to where her bag, filled with different workout clothes (because she knew her skating ones would be gross) and her school books was resting.

Figure skating training may be over, but Power Rangers training was just starting.

* * *

Justin and his flashy car was there waiting for her as soon as she exited the building and Julie hurriedly threw her heavy bag in the backseat before sliding into the front. A banana and a cup of coffee were waiting for her and she looked at her brother gratefully before taking a giant sip and feeling the caffeine rush through her veins.

“To Tommy’s?” her older brother asked. Julie nodded.

“Yep. We have training today,” Justin grinned at her, probably reliving his training exercises with her teacher from years ago, but otherwise stayed silent and put the car into drive.

Julie wouldn’t like to say that she nodded off during the long car ride, but she definitely did. She had been up past midnight working on homework and had to be up and at the rink by four in the morning, so she was running on empty, but that didn’t matter to an Olympian or a Power Ranger so she just took the chances to nap where she could.

Her brother peeled out of Dr. O’s graveled drive way as Julie let herself into her teacher/teammate’s house, making her way to the Murder Basement Command Center, as her and Ethan had been calling it since they watched the video diary.

“Julie, good, you made it,” came Dr. O’s voice as she descended the stairs. “You can leave your bag here, and your Raptor Cycle should be ready to go.”

Julie nodded with a yawn and dropped her bag next to Kira’s guitar and Conner’s honest-to-god soccer ball before making her way over to where the Red, Yellow, and Black Rangers were gathered.

“How was practice?” Kira asked as she threw her leg over her bike.

“Long,” Julie replied, tilting her head to the side to pop her neck. “I fell at the end and the look on Theresa’s face would have been compared to her finding out I was dead, instead of just catching my toe pick in the ice, but she’s always so dramatic.”

“But are you okay though?” Conner asked.

“Oh yeah,” Julie replied with a bright smile. “The first thing you do when figure skating is learn how to fall. I’ll have a serious bruise for the rest of today, but whenever we morph next it’ll clear up. If it wasn’t for the Grid I’d probably look like your soccer ball with all the spots.”

The other two Rangers laughed as Dr. Oliver hurried them into getting ready to leave, looking around one last time for their missing Blue. The other two didn’t seem super worried at him being missing, so she didn’t think anything of it as she leaned forward on her bike, feeling three vertebrates in her spine pop at the motion.

In no time at all, they arrived at a pretty empty clearing only a couple of miles from Dr. O’s house and further out into the middle of nowhere. Julie started stretching as soon as she got off of her Raptor Cycle, feeling the muscles that had started to seize up because of the long car ride and then the bike ride start to relax.

“So where’s Ethan?” Dr. O asked the group of teenagers. Julie shrugged.

“I haven’t seen him,” she replied.

“We should’ve grabbed him from Cyberspace,” Kira said, apologetically. “Sorry, Dr. O.” Julie couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows at her teacher’s disappointed look.

“Look, what’s the big deal anyway?” Conner asked, echoing her unspoken thoughts. “I mean, it’s just practice.”

“Coach always said that you can either choose to go to practice and get better and grow or not, but it’s always your choice,” Julie added. “Granted, she said that to a class of kids that would one day all be medal holders and a couple of Olympians, so you can kind of guess what their mindset was.” She didn’t say that it was her class of just her, but still. The point remained the same.

Dr. O, however, wasn’t taking that lying down. “Training is just as important as the real deal,” he started. “You never know when you might attacked-“

Julie let out a scream, as Dr. Oliver was _thrown_ into the group of teenagers, only to look up and see Zeltrax and a hoard of Tyranno Drones standing where their teacher had just been.

She tried not to groan. Of course, this would happen today.

“Well, couldn’t have planned that better,” Dr. Oliver said, getting into a fighting position.

The Pink Ranger followed him in getting ready, only for Zeltrax to call out “Attack!” and the Ren. Faire Reject and the Tyranno Drones rushed at them.

As Dr. O took on Zeltrax, each teenager ended up with about fifteen of the Tyranno Drones in their own little pockets – the drones were definitely getting smarter, trying to keep them as separated as possible so they couldn’t team up. Julie didn’t have the time to think about just how bad that was, as two grabbed her arms.

She used their momentum to flip backwards, nailing another in the chest with her foot as all three of them went down. She rolled out of the way of the strike of another before swiping her foot along the ground and knocking it down. She back hand-springed out of the way of two trying to grab her again, jumping up and kicking them both in the chest.

“How do you feel about a ride in the country?” Kira asked from where she had been thrown against her bike.

“Great day for it!” Conner said, punching a drone out of the way. Julie nodded as she ran over to them, already changing her communicator bracelet to her Stego Morpher.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

The three teenaged Rangers immediately got on their bike and drove off in different directions, luring portions of the drones away. Julie, once she had gotten far enough away, turned around and barreled straight into a bunch of them.

“Miss me?” she called. She flicked the button on her handle bars that started the lasers and watched as the drones fell, one by one, after being hit. “Here’s your wake-up call!”

She went to drive through them again, but they all disappeared into an Invisiportal at the same time as Zeltrax. Instead, she rolled to a stop next to the Red and Yellow cycles.

“That was seriously random,” Conner said, breathing heavy.

“Probably a diversion,” Dr. O added. “You guys go to the Café and get Ethan, and then meet me at the lab.”

The trio agreed and demorphed, ready to go find their missing Ranger.

* * *

“You think he’s still here?” Conner said as he pulled into a parking spot outside of Cyberspace. Julie jolted awake from her light doze.

“Let’s find out,” Kira said.

The three of them got out of the car and walked up to the front door that was surprisingly still open, despite the Café having closed an hour ago. Julie had her hand on the door to go in, only to hear creepy laughing from down the alleyway.

“I think this is the ugliest one yet,” she couldn’t help but say as she caught sight of the ‘Monster-of-the-Week’ as Ethan was starting to refer to them.

It was short and looked vaguely like a fly and the Pink Ranger couldn’t help but to stare in horror at it’s eyes – it looked like there were hundreds of them.

“Oh great,” Conner said, dropping into a fighting stance.

“If you’re looking for your friend, you’re too late!” the monster gloated. “Unless you want to join him, that is.”

The three of them ran forward to attack, Julie jumping up and kicking the monster solidly in the chest as Kira laid out a barrage of punches. Conner fell back and she could hear him talk through her communicator.

“Dr. O! We found one of Mesogog’s buddies, but no Ethan!”

 _“I’m getting a reading on him,”_ Dr. O answered. _“Keep looking while I try to pinpoint the signal.”_

At that point, the monster held up his hand, which was a _blaster_ , and fired at them. Julie barely jumped out of the way in time.

“Easy for him to say,” she heard Conner mutter from over by the trash cans.

By the time the three had managed to stand up, the monster held up it’s other hand, _which was also a blaster come ON Mesogog_ , and it fired both weapons at them. They jumped behind a bunch of crates to hide.

“Now would be a really good time to find Ethan,” Conner said, peaking around the side to see what the monster was doing.

“See if you can draw his fire,” Kira suggested. “I’ll check inside.”

“Check fast,” Julie said, getting ready to run.

“Yeah, I don’t know how long we’ll be able to hold him off,” Conner finished.

The three of them nodded at each other and, as Kira ran towards the front of the building, Julie and Conner ran towards the monster in a self-sacrificing move that, if Justin knew about, he would kill her over. Still, it was what they had to do.

Julie held her hands up to cover her face, but instead of being met with a blaster, she heard laughter and watched as the monster started to head towards where Kira had run instead of at them.

“Seriously?” she stressed through her teeth at Conner. The Red Ranger shrugged and started to run after him, leaving Julie no choice but to follow.

Conner and Julie both jumped in the path of the monster and started fighting. Conner landed a pretty good kick before looking over at her.

“Up and over?”

“Let’s do it!”

Julie got a running start as Conner knelt down. Julie put her foot on the other teenager’s back and he stood at the same time, giving her jump more momentum. She grabbed onto the monster’s antennae and tried to pull him down, only to be shaken off and thrown against the crates they had hid behind earlier.

Conner ran at the monster again, only to be punched in the stomach by one of it’s blaster hands and thrown back.

“It’s it morphing time?” Julie called with a groan as she pushed the crate shrapnel off of her.

“You’re no match for me!” the monster cried.

Conner and Julie both pushed themselves to their feet. “I’m so over you,” Conner said.

“Dino Thunder! Powe-“

“Fire!”

Julie’s eyes widened as she realized they couldn’t move out of the way from the blast, only to be hit and thrown through the open doors of Cyberspace and against a wall.

“Okay this is so not cool,” Julie groaned as she stood up.

“What the-“ Conner started and Julie closed her eyes, not ready to see what was about to happen as any sentence that started that way, didn’t bode well.

However, the sounds of fighting inside the building started and she yanked her eyes open to see Kira and Ethan, both morphed, fighting a group of creatures in the middle of the café.

“What’s going on?” Conner couldn’t help but ask, confused at the group that literally appeared out of nowhere.

“Don’t ask,” Kira said, as she fought.

Julie watched in awe as the two fought the crowd of goons inside the building and winced as Ethan threw one into the chairs that were stacked on the bar.

“Oh man,” the Blue Ranger muttered. “Hayley is seriously going to lose it.”

“Guys,” Kira started, directed at the Pink and Red Rangers. “Morph and meet us outside, okay?”

“Gladly,” Conner said, still confused.

“Here we go,” Julie said as she activated her morpher.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

The two of them ran outside (well, Conner rolled because he couldn’t resist the chance to show off) only to be met in a fight with the blaster monster from before as both Kira and Ethan fought the random enemies that appeared out of nowhere.

Morphed, the two of them stood a much better chance against the monster. The Power allowed them to be swifter and to hit harder and it wasn’t long before they had the monster on the ropes.

Julie kicked him and sent him scuttling back only for him to declare, “I’m outta here!” and disappear into an Invisiportal.

“Good riddance!” Conner said. Julie looked around to see that the monsters the other two had been fighting had disappeared as well. “We gotta check on that game.”

The quad of Rangers ran inside and over to where they had been thrown earlier. Julie hadn’t gotten a good look before, but now she saw a familiar device that she knew belonged to Ethan hooked up to the computer and sparking.

“It’s doing it again,” Ethan said as he demorphed, falling into the chair. Julie and the others did as well and she watched on the screen as the wizard guy disappeared.

“Dude, what’s going on?” Conner asked.

Ethan sighed, “I kinda don’t know where to start?”

“The truth is always best told from thine heart.”

Julie groaned as she looked up, the previously empty other than them Cyberspace now held a man in a purple cloak and hat holding a wand.

She was _officially_ done with today.

* * *

The four (five, if you counted the wizard) of them shuffled the device into Ethan’s bag as quickly as they could without actually touching it before hurrying back to Conner’s car and to Dr. Oliver’s.

Thankfully, Hayley was already there when they arrived.

“I’ll see if I can get access by linking it to our main power supply,” she had said, after they explained the situation.

Dr. O, who had been sitting beside her and watching, spun around in his chair at that point and looked directly at Ethan. Julie watched as the Blue Ranger gulped.

“So, let me get this straight,” their teacher started. “You go so caught up in a video game that you let a monster sneak up behind you?”

“It’s a pretty tight game, Dr. O,” Ethan said, trying to defend himself.

“You have to keep your head in _this_ game at all times,” the Black Ranger said with a sigh. “I know it can be hard, and it can be really dangerous too – that’s why you just got---”

Julie’s jaw dropped as Dr. Oliver’s entire mouth just disappeared in the middle of his sentence, yet he still kept talking as if they could understand him.

The four Rangers look at each other before Ethan turned around and looked at their ‘guest’. “Beldorf! Give him his mouth back.”

The wizard snarled at him before turning away.

“Can he wait until after mid-terms?” Conner asked with a grin.

“Ooh yeah I would love one less thing to do,” Julie added with a grin. The Red and Pink Rangers fist-bumped.

“Beldorf,” Ethan stressed.

The wizard sighed. “Killjoy,” he said. He waved his wand and Dr. O continued as if nothing had happened.

“Okay? Let’s not do that again.”

“I’m really sorry Dr. O,” Ethan said. “I’ve definitely learned my lesson.”

“I know you are Ethan,” their teacher said.

He went to say something else, but Hayley spoke up for the first time in awhile.

“You know, this may not be a complete loss,” their tech genius said.

All five Rangers turned to her in unison, “What do you mean?” Dr. Oliver asked.

“That creature’s energy left a residual power pulse,” she explained. “If I recalibrate the settings, I might be able to use this thing to send Beldorf back.”

Ethan grinned and a small laugh escaped, “You mean, I did something right?”

“You may have gotten lucky,” Dr. O said. “Right now, we better deal with the creature on the loose. Kira, Julie, check the monitors and see if you can find it-“

“Right,” the Yellow Ranger interjected. The two girls stood up and made their way over to the computer system, ready to start looking.

* * *

The two looked for awhile but saw nothing, until the alarm system in the lab started to go off.

“Looks like Mr. Magnetic Personality is back,” Kira said as she tried to get everyone’s attention. Julie had sat down and started clicking away at the keyboard, trying to get a good read on where the monster was.

Dr. Oliver tore over to them, stopping first to talk to Beldorf who was, somehow, still here. “Okay, you stay put until we can figure out how to send you back.”

“You two,” he said, pointing to Ethan and Kira. “Keep an eye on him. Conner, Julie – you’re with me.”

The Pink Ranger nodded as she stood up, running over to a clear area of the lab with the other two. She felt her morpher engage.

“Ready?” Dr. Oliver asked.

“Ready,” she and Conner replied.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

For the third time today, Julie morphed and felt the strain in her muscles from their many fights start to ease, but didn’t have anytime to waste as the three of them jetted out of the lab.

 _“He’s in the city plaza on Main Street,”_ Kira said over their comms once they got downtown, trying to locate the magnetic monstrosity.

“This will bring down the entire grid!” they heard. The three Rangers nodded at each other before skidding to a stop in front of the monster, all three had their sabers out.

“No so fast!” Dr. Oliver called.

The three Rangers ran towards the monster, Dr. O and Conner swiping at it from the left and right side respectively as Julie jumped up and flipped, slicing at its head.

She landed on the other side of the monster.

“Let’s Triple-Team him,” Conner suggested. The other two agreed and jumped back into the fray.

It didn’t take long before Dr. O was pushed back.

“You okay?” Conner asked. Julie helped their teacher up.

“Yeah,” he said, “he’s just quicker than I thought.”

“I’m gonna take you down!” the monster said, only for the sun to be blacked out for a second. The three Rangers looked up to see a blue and yellow blur start firing their blasters at the monster.

“Yeah! You’re the best!” Kira called into the communicator. Julie looked up to see the Ptera Zord doing a happy little spin in midair, obviously having just dropped the other two Rangers off.

Their reunion was cut short as the monster fired both of it’s magnetic blasters at them, knocking the Rangers off their feet.

“Tyranno Staff!” Conner called, once he got his momentum back.

“Tricera Sheild!”

“Ptera Grips!”

“Stego Axe!”

All four Rangers jumped at the monster, each getting in one good hit. They looked at each other and nodded, before saying at the same time. “Let’s put ‘em together!”

They had done this so many times now that it was almost effortless as their weapons clicked together and Julie couldn’t help but grin inside her helmet as Conner declared, “Z-Rex Blaster!”

She got into position in front of the Blaster, holding it up, as they all said together, “Fire!”

Julie watched, satisfied, as the monster that had been giving them trouble all day fell apart into pieces.

“De-Magnetized baby!” Conner said, pulling the Z-Rex Blaster up.

Their celebration was extremely short-lived as, once again, the monster grew. Dr. O jumped in front of them.

“I’ll handle this joker,” he declared. The man didn’t even try to call his Brachio Zord, instead he just jumped up and swatted at the monster only to be swatted back in return, like a fly.

“Dr. O!” the other Rangers cried, running over to him.

“Hayley,” the Black Ranger said into his comm, “we need some backup!”

Not even a full minute later, they really were getting fast at this, Julie jumped into the cockpit of her Stego Zord, and the four of them instantly formed the Thundersaurus MegaZord.

“Online!” they called as the locked themselves in. Julie stretched her fingers and spread her legs, ready to steady them.

The giant monster ran forward to attack, but it was actually no match for the MegaZord that just knocked it away with it’s drill arm twice, before it fell down a couple of blocks over.

“Try and keep up!” the monster called, before spinning rapidly in a circle and burying itself under ground.

“Wait, I thought it was a Magnet-Fly Monster? Now it’s part mole?” Julie couldn’t help but state.

“Where’d he go?” Conner asked, talking over her. She rolled her eyes.

A hit came from the left.

A hit came from the right.

Then, it came up from underground in front of them.

“This is fun!” they heard the monster gloat, before it dug back into ground.

“Activate the Seismic Receiver,” Conner instructed to Kira.

The Yellow Ranger nodded, “On it!”

The drill arm turned into a dowsing rod that they slowly moved over the city, it’s arm being replaced by combined parts of the Tricera and Stego Zords.

“Almost got it,” Ethan said, looking at his control panel. “Found him!”

“Firing Tyranno Tail!” The four said at once.

The Seismic Receiver flew forward like an arrow and hit the monster, just as it was coming up out of the ground, directly. It went up in a burst of flames and the fight was over.

* * *

“I presume you are still looking for the secret code to the city of Galdor?” the wizard, Beldorf, said to Ethan once they were back at Cyberspace.

Julie looked around as she held her broom, trying to clean up the damage from the Triptoids. Hayley nodded at her from across the bar and slid her a bottle of war, which she gratefully took.

“Yeah,” she heard Ethan say. “But I think I’ll work on getting it the old-fashioned way-“ he grabbed the wizard by the shoulders and placed him in front of the very computer he had come from. “One key at a time.”

“Ah, a good answer,” Beldorf said with a smile. “’Tis the right one.” Hayley walked over to the group then and stood next to the device that had started this mess to begin with.

“Okay Beldorf, it’s time,” she said. Julie leaned her chin on the handle of the broom and watched as the older woman pushed the button. A hazy blue light enveloped the wizard and pulled him back in.

Only for another blue light to open in the ceiling and Cassidy and Devin drop out of it.

“Wow,” Ethan said, raising his eyebrows. “Great entrance.”

The two of them stood up and Julie couldn’t help but snicker into her hand at the medieval dress that the mud-covered Cassidy was wearing.

“What now, your highness?” Devin asked, exhausted.

“Would you quit it with “you highness” stuff already,” Cassidy yelled, turning around to yell in his face. “I am _sick_ of being queen. I’m dirty and I smell like… some kind of animal.”

“Amongst other things,” Conner muttered to Julie with a smirk. She snorted, turning and hitting the taller boy lightly in the shoulder as Cassidy continued her meltdown.

“Oh, Devin, I smell!”

Trent came in then, joining the four Rangers and Hayley as they watched Devin actually smell the other girl and try to tell her that, no, it didn’t smell like she had rolled around in a dirty stable.

“So, what’s the deal?” the boy asked. “Did you get the secret code and win the game?”

Ethan shook his head. “Not exactly, better get me a tall smoothie. It’s gonna be a long day.”

Julie joined the others in laughing at the Blue Ranger’s words.


	8. Golden Boy

It hadn’t even been a full day before they were fighting yet another one of Mesogog’s monsters bent on destroying them and the city.

The four Rangers ran through the city, only to look across the bay to see the monster they had just been fighting, but Godzilla-sized and tearing up the financial district.

“He’s destroying the city!” Kira yelled.

“Okay,” Conner started. “It’s Zord time.”

The others nodded and called their Zords, Julie jumping into the cockpit of the StegoZord as soon as it came close enough to do so.

Seamlessly, they went from joining with their Zords to joining the Zords together into the Thundersaurus MegaZord.

“Online!” they called, as each one locked in. Julie spread her legs, steadying them with the legs of the StegoZord.

“Let’s jump to it,” she called, putting her legs together and jumping, the Zord following her. They easily jumped across the bay, landing directly in front of the monster that looked like a Casino-Gone-Wrong.

“What are you looking at?” it yelled at them. It fired its lasers while saying, “How about a little vacation?”

“Julie! Hold steady!” Conner commanded as they were hit.

The Pink Ranger winced and bent her knees, trying to keep her center of balance lowered. “I’m trying!”

“Where are we?” Ethan asked, confused.

Julie looked up and looked around, only seeing ice and snow-capped mountains. The monster had teleported them somewhere!

“Now you have an icy disposition!” it cried out with a laugh as it appeared into thin air in front of them. They watched as it swiped its arm and a blast of icy air hit them, all but freezing the inside of the Zord.

“I’m freezing!” Kira cried out, her teeth chattering.

“This gives new meaning to the phrase ‘Chillin’ like a villain,’” Conner added.

Julie snorted, barely bothered by the cold. “This is nothing.” She had spent three hours at the rink this morning and most of that was on the ground, surrounded by the ice.

“Come on, focus,” Ethan said. “Julie, can you do anything?”

She had an idea. “Ice Princess here to save the day.” She put her feet together and commanded the Zord to start spinning in place, just like she had done for what seemed like hours this morning at the rink to try and get the right speed. The action caused the Zord to kick up the snow and ice surrounding it and sent it straight at the monster, along with shaking it off of them.

“How about a little Ptera-rang?” Kira added, once she had feeling back in her fingers.

She threw the PteraZord at the monster, hitting it over and over until they appeared back inside the city.

“Spoilsport!” the monster cried out as the Ptera-rang came back to them.

“Tricera Fist,” Ethan suggested. The Zord held up the TriceraZord arm so that it’s horns were pointing forward and punched the monster, hitting it directly, before reaching back with the Tyranno arm and swinging at it, knocking it farther away.

“Let’s end this!” Julie called. The others nodded at her and the TyrannoZord mouth in the torso of the MegaZord opened up and let out a breath of fire, crisping up the monster good.

“Good one!” Kira said. The two girls high fived as Conner spoke up.

“Dino Drill!” he commanded.

Julie watched as the monster tried to disappear, only to reappear in the same spot right as the drill arm made contact – destroying it instantly.

“Yeah!” Conner celebrated. “We’re rolling now!”

“No doubt,” Ethan said, fist-bumping the Red Ranger.

“Give it up Mesogog,” Kira said with a fist-bump. “We’re not going anywhere!”

“Except to the bathroom,” Julie said. “Like, right now.”

* * *

As soon as the battle was over, Julie and Ethan headed to Cyberspace to meet up with Trent to work on their government project.

Ethan sat at one of the computers while Julie sat at a table nearby, already spreading out her other textbooks ready to work on the rest of her homework as soon as they were done.

“Just how many classes are you taking?” Ethan asked as he watched Trent run around Cyberspace, super busy. “We only have four blocks.”

“Ugh too many,” Julie admitted with a groan. “But I was homeschooled up until this year and I’m behind, so, if I want to graduate in the Spring I need to bust it out. I’m technically only in four blocks, but doing four extra blocks of work to be ready to test out.”

“Graduate? Already?” Ethan asked, wide-eyed.

The Pink Ranger nodded as she bit the end of her highlighter to open it. “Yep. Next summer starts Olympic qualifiers and I won’t have time to do school _and_ train. I’m going for gold this time.”

“Wait – this time?”

“Hey Trent!” Julie asked, once he had gotten somewhat close to them. She could hear Cassidy actually snapping at him from across the room and wanted to go punch her in the face, because really, how rude could you be? “Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” Ethan said, looking away from her. “You gonna be able to scrounge a few minutes? I gotta leave soon.”

“I’m really sorry, guys,” Trent apologized. “We just got slammed all of a sudden.”

Julie smiled at him sadly, as Cassidy continued to call out for a waiter and snapping her fingers. She turned to the other girl who wasn’t paying her any attention and thought about snapping those fingers of hers in half, so she’d finally stop.

“You know what?” Ethan started. “You do what you got to do.”

“Yeah,” Julie added with a grin, showing all of teeth. “We’ll get started and we can pick it up whenever.”

Trent thanked them both before rushing off to get back to work.

“So, this time?” Ethan asked as he turned around to his computer and typed a few things.

Julie rolled her eyes. “Yes Ethan, this time. Last time, I just got a Bronze and, while it’s shiny, I want to be on a cereal box. They only ever put Gold medalists on cereal boxes.”

Ethan turned around and gaped at her, only to burst into laughter as a scream came from Cassidy’s laptop every time that she pressed a key.

“Make it stop!” the annoying girl yelled as she kept pressing keys. Julie snorted into her textbook as Hayley walked up and stood in front of Ethan with her arms cross.

“Having fun?” she asked the Blue Ranger.

Ethan chuckled, “Yeah. I am, actually.” Julie couldn’t see Hayley’s face, but she did watch as Ethan’s face sunk. “Okay, I’m stopping.”

She rolled her eyes and started to highlight the notes she had written last night before she crashed.

“But back to the actual _Olympic Bronze Medal_ ,” Ethan said, turning around to her. She looked up at him, confused as to why he kept asking about it. “What? How come no one knows?”

Julie shrugged. “Because Reefside doesn’t care about ice sports?” she suggested. At his look, she sighed. “Look, I haven’t exactly been super vocal about it because it’s only a Bronze and- yes I know it’s still a medal,” she said as Ethan was about to interrupt. “-but I _know_ I can do better, and I can’t stop until I do. I was a participant in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah, alright? It happened, it’s over. The 2006 Olympics are in Italy and I have to be ready.”

“I just can’t believe we never knew,” Ethan said, dumbfounded. “If it were me, I’d tell everyone! All the time! You couldn’t get me to shut up.”

Julie shrugged, “That’s just not my style.” She heard screams and looked up to see Devin behind the counter making his own milkshake and covering the walls and himself with the results. “Look, I need to head out, I got a ton of work to do. Talk to Trent and let’s see if we can pick another time. Maybe at my house – Justin’s out of town for the week.”

Ethan nodded at her, laughing at Devin, while she packed up and left. She resisted the urge to knock Cassidy’s latte over as she walked by and waved goodbye to Trent and Hayley as she left.

The Pink Ranger knew the boy was actually going to look her up as soon as he could and she wasn’t sure if she was ready for all of the questions she would get.

Mostly? Because she didn’t really have any answers herself.

* * *

Julie bustled around her and Justin’s kitchen a couple of hours later heating up some leftover Vietnamese food that they had in the fridge. She didn’t exactly know how _long_ it had been in there, but it didn’t have any weird growths on it, so she assumed it would be fine.

She also was fielding questions from her mother on the other end of the phone line.

“Yes mom, I know,” she said, holding the phone between her head and shoulder as she rummaged through the silverware drawer. “My grades are fine – Principal Randall doesn’t like me, but she doesn’t actually like _anybody_ so it’s no big loss. The teachers are great, most of them didn’t even blink an eye when I asked for the extra year of coursework. I’ll be good for qualifiers come June, I promise.”

 _“I know you will, Superstar,”_ her mom said sappily. She could hear sounds of honking from her mother’s end of the phone and realized she was driving. _“Look, just keep your grades up and tell Coach Theresa I said hi, this jerk just cut me off and I need to yell at him.”_

Her communicator started beeping at that exact moment and Julie sighed, “I have to go to mom. I’m supposed to meet with a couple of people about a government project.”

The Pink Ranger said her goodbyes and ran to the shed where her Raptor Cycle was stored – thankful, not for the first time, that her brother had been a Power Ranger and understood the need to keep transportation around.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

Racing quickly through the backroads of Reefside, it didn’t take her long to meet up with the others as they followed the pings from Dr. Oliver’s distress call.

“Any idea what’s up?” Ethan asked. Julie shrugged.

“No clue,” Conner said. “But Doc doesn’t usually call for help unless he needs it so-“

“Look!” Kira shouted. “There’s his Jeep! And – is that Trent?”

“Trent? I’m looking at the trophy guy,” Julie asked.

“Firing lasers!” Conner said, flicking the button on his handlebars.

Julie watched through her helmet as the lasers from his bike hit the golden monster straight on – knocking it back to give Dr. O and Trent some room.

The four of them grinded to a stop and ran up to the ‘civilians’ to check and see how they were. Ethan and Conner then went straight for the monster while Julie bent down to help Dr. O stand.

“You good, Doc?” she asked, quietly. The man nodded.

“I’m good. I’ll get Trent out of the way, you guys be careful,” he said as soon as he could stand on her own.

Julie nodded and ran towards the back of the jeep where Kira was stammering, “Come on, Yellow. Let’s go.”

The two of them stood up to help the boys, only for an Invisiportal to open and Zeltrax to appear. Julie sighed - she was never going to catch a break.

“I was waiting for you to show up,” Conner said to the metal Renaissance man.

However, instead of engaging with them, Zeltrax turned to the golden one and said, “You, return with me at once.”

“But Father,” the golden boy said and Julie felt her jaw drop, “my mission is not complete!”

“Now,” Zeltrax commanded his… son? “Do as you’re told.”

“Yes, Father,” then the two disappeared into an Invisiportal.

The four rangers looked at each other confused.

“Did he just call him ‘Father’?” Ethan asked.

“Who’s getting freaky with the suit of armor is what I’m asking,” Julie added. “Like, how is that even possible?”

* * *

“So, an Olympian, huh?”

Julie looked up, the cap of her pink highlighter between her lips at Conner who was decidedly not making eye contact with her as he threw his soccer ball up in the air repetitively.

“So, Ethan told you, huh?” she retorted. “When did he tell you?”

The boy looked at her with a look on his face that she couldn’t place, but she decided to not let it bother her. She knew it would get out and, honestly, she’s surprised they didn’t all show up at her door last night as soon as Ethan opened his mouth and told them.

“Yesterday, after the fight with Zeltrax’s son,” Conner finally answered. “You rushed off to get back home and the three of hung out for awhile so Kira could avoid going home.”

Julie tried not to bristle and swallowed the sinking feeling of being left out – it was her own choice, to head back as soon as the fight was done. It sucked being one of the non-primary colored Rangers when the other non-primary was a man almost a decade older than you.

She shrugged, “Yeah. I have a Bronze. Want to see it?”

Conner sat up excitedly, his soccer ball falling against the blue fabric of Justin’s couch. “That’s an option?”

The Pink Ranger rolled her eyes and stood up, dislodging her two notebooks from her lap and stepping over the mound of papers to get to the wall with all of her and her brother’s accomplishments. She had almost fought to the death with her mother to take the medal with her when she moved – eventually stating that it was good motivation for her if she had it so her mother gracefully let it go.

She plucked it off the wall and put it in Conner’s hand, watching as he admired it in awe. Julie remembered all the endless training sessions and hours put at the rink and the blood and sweat and tears, God, so many tears that went into the thing. One of the youngest to podium for figure skating at the Olympics in the history of the sport – and then it all came crashing down a whole two weeks later.

“I never thought I’d get to even hold one of these,” Conner said, still amazed. Julie smiled at him before taking it from his hands and placing it around his neck, tapping the medal with the back of her knuckles as soon as it came to a resting spot on his chest.

“You look good with a medal, Ball Boy,” she said with a smirk. “Who knows, maybe you’ll get your own one day. Team USA _does_ have a soccer team after all.”

She watched his eyes widen and let out a laugh before wandering back over to her study spot on the floor, only to be stopped by her actual phone ringing.

“Hello?” she answered, still keeping an eye on Conner who was looking at himself in their hallway mirror with the medal on.

 _“Julie? It’s Hayley. Trent’s dad bought Cyberspace – Tommy and the others are on their way to fight city hall,”_ Hayley said from the other end of the line.

“What? Can he do that?” Julie asked, startled.

 _“I think he thinks he can,”_ Hayley answered. _“I can’t leave the café, can you grab the others and go too?”_

“Of course,” she replied. Julie snapped in Conner’s general direction and he put her medal back in it’s spot before stepping into his shoes. “We’ll be there lickety split and get this all fixed. No worries, H.”

 _“Thanks Julie,”_ the other woman said before disconnecting the call.

“What’s going on?” Conner asked, standing with his car keys in his hand.

“Mercer is trying to buy Cyberspace and the others are on their way to city hall to fight it, so we’re going to go and show support,” she explained. “I’ll call Kira and we can pick her up on the way.”

The Red Ranger nodded and the two left the house and jumped into his car.

Kira was, obviously, on board with the plan and it took no time at all to swing by her house and pick her up before heading to the courtyard of city hall, only to see flying sparks and fleeing citizens. They ran to the center of the action to see Dr. O and Ethan facing off against the golden boy and Zeltrax.

“We heard you guys were here to fight city hall,” Conner said as they came to a stop beside the others Rangers.

“They must have meant fight in front of it?” Kira added, confused.

“At least it’s not on it,” Julie finished with a grin. “Yet, anyway.”

“You guys ready?” Dr. Oliver asked, ignoring the three of them. Julie rolled her eyes but summoned her morpher anyway.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

“Tyranno Drones! Attack!”

They quickly split off and did what they do best – Conner started swinging his saber at Zeltrax’s son, Dr. Oliver practically launched himself across the courtyard at Zeltrax, and the remaining three Rangers went after the Tyranno Drones, breaking them off into more manageable pockets of their own.

“I was having a good day!” Julie couldn’t help but screech between punches. She kicked one drone and knocked it down, before getting a running start and jumping on its back and launching herself into the air and onto the shoulders of another drone. Stunned at the sudden weight, the drone started to fall and she jumped from its shoulders to another drone, like it was a game of hopscotch.

Julie flipped off one of the last ones, only to split kick and knock the last two down.

She was getting better at this.

“Golden Rod!” Zeltrax called across the courtyard. “Attack the city!”

“Yes Father!” she heard. Julie looked around for where Conner’s fight with Golden Rod had taken them, but was quickly distracted as a 40-story version appeared in the middle of the city – bigger than all of the other monsters they had fought.

“He can just get big on his own?” Julie asked, confused.

“He’s big,” Conner said in shocked awe.

Dr. Oliver summoned their Zords and Julie felt her heart soar when she heard her StegoZord’s familiar roar.

“Dino Rangers, Go!” Conner shouted, excitedly.

The Pink Ranger placed her feet together and _jumped_ into the cockpit of her Zord seconds before it merged with the others.

“Thundersaurus MegaZord!” they all cried. Julie looked down the line at the other three, locking themselves into their piloting devices.

“Bring it on!” Golden Rod goaded, standing across from them.

Their Thundersaurus MegaZord was quite a bit shorter than the large, golden monster, but that didn’t stop them.

“Let’s take care of business, guys!” the Red Ranger said.

Golden Rod jumped and delivered a kick to their torso, knocking them backwards.

“Hold on guys,” Julie said, widening her stance to take the blow. “It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”

Golden Rod summoned his double-bladed staff and started slicing at them, too fast for them to even try to defend. Julie wasn’t the only one that let out a scream when one of the monster’s hits took them to the ground and the machinery in the cockpit burst into sparks.

“We gotta get back up!” Kira yelled, scared.

Julie nodded, “Working on it. I need help though.”

“I got you Jules,” Ethan said, engaging his Tricera arm to help push the MegaZord to it’s feet.

“Stand our ground, Julie,” Conner ordered, as Golden Rod started swiping at them again.

The Pink Ranger lowered herself as far to the floor as she felt comfortable doing inside their Zord and used her gloved hands to brace herself and, therefore, the MegaZord.

Sometimes she really hated being the one who was the pants of the operation.

“There’s Dr. O!” one of the others called. Julie looked up through their windshield and watched as Golden Rod tried to stomp on their teacher, who only barely managed to roll out of the way in time.

Julie couldn’t one hundred percent see exactly what he was doing, but she did see him jam his staff into the ground and unleash a giant dust storm at Golden Rod, knocking him back as he tried to cover his eyes, but the dust caused him to spark.

Their teacher, again, slammed his staff into the ground and a giant fissure opened up underneath Golden Rod, pulling him into the Earth.

“That’s one way to do it,” Julie watched in awe.

“Yeah.”

“Sweet.”

“Alright!”

She knew she wasn’t the only one that forgot that their mentor was a legend in and of himself, but moments like this solidified it. He was taking on a 40-story monster _without a Zord_.

Finally, their teacher jammed his staff into the ground one more time and it erupted into flames – sending Golden Rod sky high and, by the time the flames cleared, the monster was nothing more than a memory as he was decimated on impact.

The four Rangers in the MegaZord celebrated their teacher absolutely owning the monster.

It paid to have a legacy on the team, after all.

* * *

They met up with Trent and a Councilwoman Sanchez after the battle, seeing the two of them shaking hands and Julie knew that things had gone their way. They said goodbye to Trent who had to go explain the situation to his father, but the five Rangers and the councilwoman made their way to Cyberspace to go over the specifics of the deal.

“So, Olympian?” Kira asked, biting the end of her smoothie straw as they sat around Cyberspace. The two boys leaned in forward.

“It’s your turn?” Julie asked. She nodded with a smile. “Yeah. I’m an Olympian, it’s a whole thing. I can show you the videos later – Justin recorded it.”

“You didn’t mention anything about videos!” Conner said, distraught.

She snorted. “Oh hush, you got to wear it.”

“He got to wear it-!”

Julie was stopped from having to answer as Anton Mercer and a bunch of government looking goons strolled into the café as if they owned the place, already talking about the walls they would take out and the renovations that they would do. She put a hand on Conner’s shoulder to prevent him from standing up and going at the man.

Hayley had this covered.

“Hang on,” the red head said, stepping in front of the obnoxious man with her arms crossed. “You don’t own it yet.”

Mercer looked exasperated at the woman and then _Ethan_ had to hold _her_ back from attacking him.

“Hayley,” he started, “you know, as much as I hate to say this, you really can’t fight city hall.”

“I want to smack the smug look off his face,” Kira said. “How that man is Trent’s father I have _no_ idea.”

Then, Councilwoman Sanchez who had been chatting with Hayley all afternoon spoke up. Mercer looked shocked, apparently not even noticing the woman. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that, Dr. Mercer. My name is Eleanor Sanchez, Councilwoman for the 33rd district.” If she was a snake, her words would be _dripping_ in venom and Julie looked at her in awe. “It is with great pleasure I inform you that the City Council has voted to put your purchase of this land on hold.”

Dr. Oliver stood up and went to stand behind the women, to promote a united front against the man.

“And you’re a part of this?” he asked, aghast.

“Actually,” Councilwoman Sanchez started, with a smile on her face. “We have your son to thank.” Kira stood up and the rest of them followed, going to stand next to the woman who gave them this place to hang out. The rest of the café, completely unprompted, also followed and Julie blinked back tears at the support her friend was getting. “He made me realize that a place like this,” the Councilwoman continued, “a safe haven for learning and interaction for the youth of our community, is something that shouldn’t be disturbed or changed in any way.”

“I was only trying to do what’s best for my son,” Dr. Mercer declared. The look the Councilwoman gave him was of pure displeasure. “Well. I’ll just be going then.”

As he walked out, everyone burst into cheers. Julie and Kira laughed as they pulled the boys into a giant, four-way hug, to celebrate. Dr. O and Hayley joined in.

The Cyperspace was safe.


	9. Beneath the Surface

Julie bopped along to her CD player as she sat in Cyberspace with her team after school one day. Ethan was playing some sort of video game at the next table over while her, Conner, and Kira were working on school work – Conner and Kira, specifically, were working on the government project that Ethan, Julie, and Trent had finished last week.

“Dude,” she heard Conner say over her headphones. “Do you mind?”

The Pink Ranger removed her headphones, thinking he was talking to her. Maybe her music was too loud? But no, he was looking over at Ethan who was playing his video game without headphones in and, granted, was being loud.

“I made it to level 12!” Ethan celebrated, instead of answering. The Blue Ranger was too far into the game to notice that real life was a thing. It had been happening a lot less since his whole deal with getting sucked into the game itself, but it had been known to happen every now and again.

Kira and Julie exchanged a look as, instead of saying anything, Conner reached over the distance between the two tables and pushed the power button on Ethan’s laptop, effectively shutting off the game. Julie winced.

Here we go.

“What are you doing?” Ethan asked, shocked, as he turned around to Conner. Julie put her headphones back on with the sound off, if only to escape what was about to be a major fight.

“I can’t concentrate with you blowing things up in my ear,” Conner replied.

“But it took me _three hours_ to get to that level,” Ethan stressed, turning back around.

Kira spoke up at that point. “Sorry, but I’m with Conner on this one,” she said. “We got a paper due tomorrow, and why aren’t you working on yours?”

“Finished it last week,” Ethan answered. “Trent, Julie and I jammed on it while you guys were out being David Beckham and-“

“Don’t _even_ say it,” Kira replied, glaring. She then turned on Julie. “And you – you’re not even in that class!”

The other girl shrugged. “I’m taking the Junior and Senior course loads,” she explained. “I may not _physically_ be in the class, but my long email chain with Mr. Yost says otherwise.”

“Wait, how?” Conner asked her. She was about to reply, but Kira spoke over her.

“Where’s Trent anyway?” she asked. “I thought he was working today.”

“Hayley gave him the day off,” Conner said, snapping out of his stupor at hearing that Julie was taking twice the amount of classes that they were. “I think he’s spending some quality time with his dad.”

Julie snapped her Econ textbook shut and pushed it into her bag. “Speaking of quality time,” she started. “Justin’s having friends over and wanted to re-introduce them to me.”

“Ranger friends?” Ethan asked, turning back towards them from where he was restarting his game. The other two looked at her curiously as well and she sighed.

“Yes, Ranger friends,” she replied under her breath. “A few are in town for a thing so they’re all getting together.” The three others stared at her, eagerly and Julie sighed again, knowing what they wanted. “Let me ask.”

The three other teenagers whooped as she texted her brother, asking if they had room for three more.

* * *

Thankfully, with the addition of the others it meant Justin didn’t have to come pick her up because Conner could drive them all to their rather nice house in the suburbs of Reefside. It was firmly middle class, what with her brother still technically in the first couple years of his start-up company, but it was still nicer than the place their mom lived in Angel Grove.

Julie unfurled herself from the back of Conner’s car only to be met with a happy hug from someone she hadn’t even seen approach and couldn’t help but smile.

“Julie!” came the very familiar Australian accent of Katherine Hilliard, her one time babysitter and the one time Pink Ranger. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Kat!” she replied, hugging the woman tightly. She still smelled exactly the same as when she was a teenager, helping Julie pull her hair into twin braids before a competition. “It’s been too long!”

“Stop hogging her,” came another voice. Kat peeled herself from Julie and she looked to see where her brother along with two others were standing. Tanya Sloan, the third Yellow Ranger, gave a bright wave from her spot beside her husband, Adam Park, the second Black Ranger and second Green Ranger. “Also, who is this?”

“Oh my god that’s Tanya Sloan,” Kira muttered, gripping Julie’s wrist tightly. She turned and smiled brightly at the other girl who was catching sight of her musical idol for the first time.

“These are my friends,” Julie said, stressing the word friends. “Conner in red, Ethan in blue, and Kira in yellow.”

Adam and Tanya walked up to the teenagers and greeted them all happily, Tanya immediately latching onto Kira who looked as though she was going to either ascend to a higher state of being or vomit all over the Stewarts' lawn.

“It’s so nice to meet you!” Tanya said, holding the smaller Yellow tightly. Adam shook the hands of Ethan and Conner who were staring at them in shock. “We’ve heard a lot about you.”

“You’ve heard a lot about us?” Ethan asked, gobsmacked. “What-“

“We do still talk to Christmas Time,” Adam replied with a smirk. “And Justin has been very forthcoming once he spilled the info on Earth’s newest Power Rangers.”

“Hold up,” Conner said, a smirk growing on his face. “Christmas Time?”

“Don’t rag on Tommy when he’s not here to defend himself,” Kat said, stepping forward and slapping the Asian man on the shoulder. Conner and Ethan giggled like school girls at their teacher/mentor/teammate’s nickname from his friends. “Besides, we need to rethink it anyway. Black Ranger, honestly.”

“He's just mad that I stole his color first,” Adam said with a grin.

The mismatched group of teenagers and adults made their way inside the house, kicking off their shoes at the door and the teens dropping their bags.

Justin had engaged Ethan in a very involved talk about the newest Space Ninja game as soon as they got settled. Adam and Conner had broken off and were talking about sports and martial arts and ninja academies by the way of Conner’s twin brother while starting to make plates for themselves from the mismatched take out containers of food on the Stewart siblings’ table. Kira was still stunned as Tanya talked at her a mile a minute about music and being a Yellow Ranger.

“It’s weird, isn’t it?” Kat asked. “The two teams meeting.”

“Oh for sure,” Julie added with a smile. “But it’s nice to know we’re not alone, ya know? I mean, we have Dr. Oliver but he’s in a difficult place being both our teammate and our science teacher that it’s hard to relate to him.”

“Dr. Oliver,” Kat said snickering. “I still can’t believe it. Where is he anyway?”

Julie shrugged, “He mentioned something about getting ready for a field trip to an archeological dig site, but other than that I have no clue.”

The older Pink Ranger shrugged and pulled her to sit on the loveseat with her and Julie couldn’t help but notice how they were kind of tangled up in each other – their arms were still interlinked and Kat had thrown one leg over her’s and Julie realized that it wasn’t just her that wanted to be super clingy with her teammates – it was a Pink thing.

“I knew you’d be a Pink,” Kat said, still with her bright grin. “I would’ve placed bets on it when you were younger if Justin didn’t get all cringey about his little sister being a Ranger.”

“You were my hero growing up,” Julie admitted. “Once I found out you were Pink, I was sold on it.”

“There aren’t many of us, you know,” Kat explained. “At least, not on Earth or in this time. Kim is in Florida, still, and Cassie-“

“Who took over for you,” Julie interjected. The other woman nodded.

“-Yeah, who took over for me, is in Space with the other Astro Rangers. The only other one is Dana Mitchell from-“

“Lightspeed Rescue,” the younger Pink Ranger interjected. Kat elbowed her with a grin.

“Look at you, studying up,” she said. “Don’t be getting any ideas – you can’t be a Blue too.”

Julie shook her head, “Nah, Ethan’s got that pretty locked down. I think I'd be a White, if anything.” She glanced over to see him and Justin now talking over a bunch of shreds of electronics and muttering to themselves. She sighed, “If I pretend they’re not talking about world domination, they won’t be, right?”

Tanya came over, still dragging Kira with her who looked a little less shell shocked but still a little stunned and slid in beside them on the loveseat. The older Yellow Ranger patted Julie’s head.

“We’ve learned to just let them go,” she said. “They won’t get very far without people skills, which is what they need us for.”

Kira reached over and grabbed Julie’s hand, holding it tightly and Julie just squeezed back in response as the older women started talking about all of the ridiculous plans Justin, Billy, Rocky had all come up with during their tenure as Blue Rangers. Conner looked up from where he was looking at something on Adam’s phone and Ethan glanced over at them and they all smiled each other.

If this is what they had to look forward too, still hanging out years down the line once they hung up their helmets whenever Mesogog was defeated and integrating themselves with new Ranger teams, then the future looked pretty bright.

* * *

The school bell rang for their first block and Dr. Oliver stood at the front of the classroom, ready to gesture them towards the bus.

“There’s only so much you can learn in a classroom,” he said with a bright smile, clapping his hands. “Who’s ready for some field work?”

Julie stood up and slugged her backpack onto her back, trying to not wobble at the weight. Instead of saying anything, Conner reached out a hand and steadied her only to loop and arm over her and Ethan’s shoulders.

“Look at him in his little vest,” Conner said with a smirk. “You’d think he was actually a teacher.”

“He _is_ a teacher,” Kira said, coming up on Ethan’s other side. The Blue Ranger threw his own arm around her shoulder and she moved closer to him. “It’s just… different.”

“Kat was _so_ too good for him,” the Red Ranger said. “He’s such a dweeb and she’s a babe.”

Julie elbowed him in the side and broke out from in under his arm, “That’s Katherine to you, Ball Boy. Besides, she’s way too old for you.”

“Yeah Con, you’re just jailbait,” Ethan said with a laugh. Julie and Kira laughed as well and, before long, Conner was snickering himself.

“I can still look,” he finally said, a smug look on his face. Julie elbowed him again while Kira reached out to try and trip him, but only ended up tripping Ethan who, as he toppled to the floor just so happened to take Conner with him.

“Stop horse playing guys,” Dr. O said coming up behind them. Julie turned to see him and couldn’t help but drop her jaw at the get up that Principal Randall was in. She did know they were going to an archeological site and not a safari, right? “You’re setting a bad picture for our guest for today’s dig.”

The four looked at each other in shock. This couldn’t be good.

* * *

Julie wiped the sweat off of her forehead with her sleeve as she looked over at Kira and made a face at her. The other girl threw a clod of dirt in her direction and missed but made her laugh.

It was hot and gross and sticky out and Julie honestly regretted saying yes to going to the dig. She should’ve taken the paper that the class could’ve written instead (that no one actually chose, let’s be real.) She was good at papers, she was bad at outside.

“Hey, you guys,” Ethan called. “Over here! I think I found something.”

Julie immediately dropped the handles of the wheelbarrow she was pushing and rushed over to her friend who was kneeling in the dirt. Kira followed close behind.

“Great,” Conner said, sticking his small shovel into the ground beside the other boy. “What is it?”

Julie made it over and looked down, seeing something not very fossil-like, but more Biozord type and she felt her eyebrows rise.

“Do you think-“

“That’s exactly what I think. I’m going to go get Dr. O,” Kira said, standing up. She brushed the dirt off of her knees. “Hopefully we can break him away from Randall.”

As she walked away, Ethan and Conner both looked at Julie confused. “What did she mean, break him away from Randall?” Ethan asked.

Julie snorted. “Our illustrious Principal has been right next to him all day,” she explained. “Kira and I have been watching. It’s _hilarious_ at how awkward he’s been getting.”

Conner lightly shoved her to shush her as Dr. O’s voice saying, “What have you got?” came from behind them. She shoved him back, not as lightly, and stood up with the group as Ethan cradled the egg.

“Well,” he started. “I think it might be a Dinozord Egg.” The egg in question was about the size and shape of a football, but the shell had a bunch of holes like swiss cheese and, in the holes, Julie could see a green orb.

“Careful,” Dr. Oliver said, gently taking the egg from the Blue Ranger. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Principal Randall, of all people, interrupted him.

“Ooooh,” the woman said, wiggling her fingers as if it were something spooky. Or exciting. Julie couldn’t really tell. “A discovery!” she continued. “How exciting.”

“Oh no,” Dr. Oliver said, pulling a little dusting brush out of his vest pocket. “We’re not really sure what it is.”

The quad of teenagers made eye contact and Julie wondered if she was the only one who was trying to figure out how to grab the thing and chuck it out of Randall’s reach.

“It _looks_ like a prehistoric egg,” Randall said.

“I think it looks more like a toy football,” Julie said, interjecting. “My brother has one just like it.”

“May I?” the principal said, completely ignoring her. At their apprehension, she continued, “Don’t worry. I won’t drop it.”

Julie clenched Ethan’s sleeve tightly in her hand as Dr. Oliver _handed over the egg_ to the woman who was looking at it, very interestingly. She made panicked eye contact with Kira and Conner but couldn’t think of anything to say.

“I should really be taking that back to the school lab and examine it,” Dr. O insisted, reaching out for it after a few seconds.

Principal Randall shook herself and smiled, “But of course! Here.”

That’s when the screaming started.

Julie looked up and saw Tyranno Drones running around the students on the field trip. They were running, as they should be, scared back to the bus and she clenched her fists.

At a subtle nod from Dr. O to Conner, the four teenagers split off – ready to do what they could. Julie, instead of fighting, started trying to remember how many students went on the field trip itself and tried to pull them to the safety of the bus.

“Guys come on,” she said, running up to a couple of girls who were also in her French class. “We need to _go_.”

“But those monsters – “ one started. Julie grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up, her friend followed, staring at the monsters in shock.

“Will be heading straight over here, at least get to the bus where the door locks,” Julie insisted. The two girls nodded and she started to lead them through the carnage, hiding behind dirt piles and boxes to avoid the sight of the drones. If one saw her, it would be over.

Thankfully, she managed to get them to the bus. She nodded at the bus driver to lock the doors, but she hopped off just in time to kick a Tyranno Drone away as it got too close.

Party time.

She had lost the others in the confusion but only a few drones had made it over to her and so Julie knew she had to lead them away from the bus. The Pink Ranger put her foot on the tire and used it as a launch pad, flipping backwards over one of the drones who turned to look at her and run, away from the bus.

“Come at me,” she goaded, a smile on her face. She could feel pieces of her ponytail sticking to her skin from the sweat.

Julie punched at one, then the other, then had to duck as they both tried to punch her back at the same time. The two clashed their fists together and she reached up to grab them, using their bodies to flip forwards and, using her momentum, taking them to the ground. She let go and had just enough time to dodge out of the way as another came _sailing_ at her, being thrown by one of the others.

The group of Drones disappeared into an Invisiportal and Julie joined up with the other three, who were trying not to make eye contact with Randall.

“Where did you four learn to fight like that?” she insisted. Julie scratched the back of her neck and looked off into the distance.

“Karate club,” Conner offered, before pushing past her. The others quickly followed.

Safe to say, the field trip was over.

* * *

“So what's up?” Conner asked that afternoon in the lab once school was over. The quad had ridden in Conner’s cramped car out to Dr. Oliver’s house to get to the lab so they could actually start looking at the egg they found.

“You got anything?” Kira asked.

Ethan was scanning the egg with some kind of tool that projected the info from it onto the computer monitors where Julie was sitting, watching to see if anything weird popped up.

“I don’t know,” Ethan finally said, confused. “Something’s not right.”

“Agreed,” Julie added. “The data it’s showing isn’t like anything we’ve seen, and not in a fun, new way but in a ‘this is just a nerf football’ kind of way.”

“I can’t detect any signs of life,” Ethan added, clarifying.

Dr. O straightened up and stroked his goatee. “That’s weird. I’m sure that’s a DimetroZord egg.”

“DimetroZord?” Conner asked, confused.

“It’s developed from a Dimetrodon,” Dr. O explained. “It’s really amazing.”

“It’s like a lizard with a fin on its back that looks like one of those table-top saw blades,” Julie explained, pulling a picture of one up on the monitors. “Pretty cute.”

“That would explain why the Tyranno Drones want it,” Kira added.

Julie nodded. “And why we need it. Could you imagine Zeltrax with a Zord? We thought his space ship was bad.”

Ethan continued to scan the egg, trying to find anything, while Dr. Oliver and Julie traded spots. She could hear their teacher tapping away at the keyboard before he sighed and turned around to them.

“This _is_ weird,” he said, taking his glasses off. “I’m still getting a heat signal from the dig site where we found the egg.”

“But the egg’s not even there anymore,” Kira added, confused.

“Maybe there’s another one?” Ethan suggested, looking around at them.

Dr. Oliver stood up. “I better go check it out, I might be able to find something. Kira, Ethan, Conner – you guys stay here and continue to analyze this one. Julie, come with me – we’ll see if we can find it.”

Julie curled her lips in disgust at having to go back outside, but she knew her teacher was right. She retied her hair up into a messy bun and followed the teacher out to his jeep.

“Did you make the dig site where it was because of the potential Dinozord egg?” she asked, once they were on the road. The other man nodded.

“I knew it was the easiest way to get there and find it,” he explained.

“Also, the free labor helps,” Julie added with a grin. Dr. O chuckled.

“That isn’t exactly what I put on my field trip requisition, but sure. We’ll go with it.”

* * *

The path that Dr. Oliver took the jeep through wasn’t the one the bus had taken earlier, it was a lot smaller and rockier – the only reason they were even still going was because of the suspension on the vehicle. Julie held tightly to the side of the jeep, trying not to lose her lunch at all of the jostling around.

They pulled to a stop in a grassy field just on the other side of the trees and Julie followed the Black Ranger’s example and got out of the car. It was weirdly silent – there weren’t even any bird noises.

“Dr. O, I don’t think-“

Of course, she would be interrupted by an Invisiportal opening across from them and Zeltrax falling out of it.

“-this was a good place to stop,” she finished, mumbling under her breath.

“Zeltrax,” Dr. O started. “I thought I smelled something.”

“I believe that would be your imminent demise,” the monster answered. Julie couldn’t help but roll her eyes at the dramatics.

“I don’t have time to trade insults,” her teacher said. “Out of my way. We have something important to do.”

Zeltrax looked over at her for the first time and Julie resisted the urge to shudder. She couldn’t see his eyes but she sure felt them.

“That will have to wait,” Zeltrax said, turning back to Dr. Oliver. “First we have to attend to your destruction.”

“Fine,” Dr. O replied, relaxing his shoulders. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Zeltrax drew his sword and another Invisiportal opened up, depositing ten Tyranno Drones in the clearing with them, obviously for her to fight.

Julie and Dr. Oliver locked eyes and nodded, their communicators turning into their morphers.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

The Pink Ranger knew she was out of her depths, mainly because Dr. O wouldn’t be able to help her. He would be too focused on the fight with Zeltrax to come to her aid if she needed it, so she summoned her saber first off.

The ten drones started to run at her and Julie, wielding her sword, returned the favor. She held onto it with both and sliced in an ‘X’ formation, taking out the first one, before having to duck and swiping at the legs of a second.

Dr. O better finish Zeltrax quick.

Julie quickly dismissed her saber and summoned her Stego Axe, which hit harder and had more of a bludgeoning attack than a slicing one. She didn’t have to precise with it, just hit them.

She swung it around in a circle, taking out three drones before stepping off the knees of the closest one and flipping backwards, slicing upwards with the Axe and clipping her launchpad in the chin. She landed and snapped her elbow back, knocking into another before turning around knocking him back with the flat part of her axe.

Then, as suddenly as they appeared, they vanished.

“Power down,” she heard Dr. O said and Julie followed, demorphing and running over to him

“What was that all about?”

“I don’t know Julie, but it can’t be good,” the Black Ranger replied. “Come on, let’s get back to the lab.”

Their communicators beeped. _“Dr. O! Julie! We need some help! The DimetroZord is loose and destroying Little Tokyo and there’s another thirty-story monster!”_

“On our way,” their teacher replied.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up!”

Julie had little time to adjust to immediately being back in the suit before the BrachioZord wandered up and her StegoZord came out of its holding spot. She nodded at her teacher before jumping into the cockpit.

“Let’s go help, Stella!” she said. Her Zord roared in appreciation and quickly worked on making its way towards where it’s brethren were fighting.

 _“Julie! Where are you?”_ Conner called over the comms.

“Right behind you Ball Boy,” she said with a grin. She watched through the windshield as the other three then jumped into their Zords and the four of them immediately joined into the Thundersaurus MegaZord.

The monster they were facing off with wasn’t any uglier than any of the others they had faced, but it was almost forgettable in its appearance and Julie shook her head, wondering when did it become a novelty to have a cool looking enemy for once that would prominently feature in her nightmares instead of just being a supporting character.

“Kira go!” Conner called.

“PteraRang!” the Yellow Ranger answered.

The MegaZord threw the two PteraRangs, each wing of the PteraZord, at the monster only for it to bat them both aside like it was nothing.

“Oh no!” Kira said, watching it happen. Julie’s jaw dropped in response.

“Tricera Fist,” Ethan said firmly. The Zord engaged it’s Tricera Fist function and went to punch the monster, only for it’s blow to be blocked. The monster then, to add insult to injury, spun around and hit them in the torso with its tail.

“Julie hold steady!” Conner called as the Zord started wobbling. She bent her knees to keep them steady.

The monster hit them again, knocking them even further off balance.

 _“I don’t think the ThunderZords are powerful enough,”_ Dr. O said over their comm system. _“You need something that can break through it’s armor, like a blade or a saw.”_

The three Primary-colored Rangers shared a look.

 _“Wait a minute, you gotta use the DimetroZord!”_ Dr. O explained. At Conner’s confusion, he clarified. _“The DinoZord you were just fighting.”_

“Dr. O,” Conner started. “If you haven’t noticed, he’s not exactly playing well with the others.”

“He would not do well in preschool,” Julie added.

 _“Let me see if I can do something about that,”_ Dr. O finished.

“To our left!” Ethan shouted. Julie’s head jerked over to where he was pointing to see the light blue colored Dinozord jumping at them, its saw-bladed back spinning as it hit them from one side then the other.

Its multiple hits knocked them down, Julie couldn’t find a way to keep them standing. She looked out the windshield at the monster _and_ at the Zord that were facing them down and slowly advancing on them.

The monster stomped a couple of times on the Zord and it shook them bad, Julie closed her eyes in pain and had to hold onto her podium to stay upright and not go falling back.

When it looked like it was officially over for them, the monster let out a yell and fell back. Julie opened her eyes and saw the DimetroZord slicing at the monster instead of them. Dr. O’s plan worked!

It didn’t take her and Stella the StegoZord long to get them back to their feet.

“Way to go!” Conner cheered on the Zord.

“Awesome!” Ethan added happily.

 _“He’s all yours guys,”_ Dr. O said opening their comms once more. _“And wait until you see what he can do.”_

The Rangers all pushed a button on their consoles and the Tyranno Drill arm fell off, only to be replaced with the spinning blade arm of the DimetroZord.

At that point, it was like child’s play.

The monster went to strike them, but they blocked with the blade and Julie let out a cheer as part of it’s double-sword arms fell off and hit the ground due to the strike. They quickly got rid of the second one as well when the monster tried to use it to block their hit.

“Now I’m really mad!” the monster yelled.

“Oh,” Ethan started. “You want some more?”

The jabbed the saw blade at the monster one last time, but because it didn’t have it’s swords to block it hit it straight in the chest, knocking it back.

“Let’s do it!” Conner called. The four hit another button and the Tyranno Mouth on their torso opened up and spit fire at the monster, hitting it directly.

“Dimetroblade!” the Red Ranger started.

“Full Power!” they all called at the same time.

The blade started to spin faster than it had before and they swiped at the monster so fast it left blue streaks behind – which caused the monster to start to spark even more than it already was. Julie let out a cheer as it fell down and exploded in a bright, green light.

* * *

Julie yawned as they sat in science class the next day. Surprisingly, the class wasn’t talking about the attack on the dig site the day before. Maybe they were all just getting used to the constant fighting?

“Did you have practice this morning?” Ethan asked from across the table. Julie stifled another yawn while she nodded. “When do you sleep?”

“In the spring of 2006,” she answered with a grin. The boy snorted. “Nah, I sleep in history. I think we’re watching another biopic on World War I.”

The television in the corner of the room turned on and everyone looked up, confused.

 _“This is Cassidy Cornell with a special report,”_ the entire class groaned. No wonder she hadn’t been there this morning. _“I have discovered that we have a superhero working right here at Reefside High.”_

Julie’s jaw dropped as she and the other’s exchanged eye contact, trying not to look directly at Dr. Oliver. The Pink Ranger reached out and grabbed onto Conner’s elbow.

“You don’t think-“ the Red Ranger shushed her as Cassidy kept talking. Dr. O looked down at his desk in defeat, as if ready to come clean.

_“Yes. Our very own Principal Randall fended off several prehistoric creatures in an act of selfless bravery.”_

The Dino Thunder Rangers stared at each other, stunned as Cassidy said _Principal Randall_ was the hero. In what world?

Dr. Oliver looked over at them, just as confused.

 _“I was on the scene to bring you the exclusive footage,”_ Cassidy continued. _“Let’s roll tape.”_

However, instead of a fight scene, it was just a looped video of Cassidy ripping up a flower and dropping it on poor Devin who had been laying on the ground. It went back to Cassidy who cleared her throat while the four teenage Rangers laughed in relief.

 _“Uh, we seem to be having technical difficulties,”_ explained Cassidy. _“Please stand by.”_

The bell rang to signify the end of class and everyone filed out, the teenagers following Dr. Oliver as he tracked down Principal Randall, who he finally managed to catch on the stairs.

The four of them peaked around the corner, but Julie couldn’t hear most of the conversation – Dr. Oliver was naturally soft spoken and it didn’t look like Randall was saying much herself.

Finally, the bell rang for the end of the passing period and they heard Principal Randall say, “It’s the bell, Dr. Oliver. Your next class isn’t going to teach itself, is it?” Before turning around and continuing her walk down the stairs, her sensible heels clicking on every step.

“Man, that woman is cold-blooded,” Ethan said, walking out from their eavesdropping spot. The other three followed and stood around their teacher.

“Yeah, but remember,” Conner said with a smirk. He tossed his red soccer ball from one hand to the other. “Dr. O’s got a thing for dinosaurs.”

Julie couldn’t help but snort a laugh as Dr. Oliver rolled his eyes.

“Don’t even start with me, Conner,” he said, already done with them.

“I think it’s a perfect match,” Kira said, laughing.

“Yeah – they have such _chemistry_ together,” Julie added.

Dr. O threw up his hands, “Aren’t you guys late for your next class?”

Conner rubbed the back of his neck, “Yeah, we were kind of hoping you could write us a note or something?”

“Dream on.”


	10. Ocean Alert

Julie yawned and almost face planted into her smoothie. She still wasn’t completely sure as to why she was at Cyberspace, other than the request of ‘team bonding.’ Conner just looked bored, Ethan was too involved in some kind of research on his laptop, and Kira was too busy gazing adoringly at Trent.

She just wanted to take a nap.

“Check it out!” Ethan said, speaking for the first time. Julie snapped awake, barely avoiding spilling her smoothie only because Conner caught it just in time. “It says here that brain waves are just electrical impulses that, if converted in to a binary language, can be downloaded.”

“In English, please?” Julie asked, holding back another yawn.

“I read about that,” Trent said as he walked over to them. “It means our eyes can become the video cameras of the future.”

“Game Geek TV,” Conner suggested, leaning backwards against the counter, “I wonder if it’ll become a part of basic cable.”

Julie shoved him lightly while snickering. “Be nice.” She turned to Trent, “Thank you for explaining it, it makes sense. That’s honestly really cool! You won’t have to have a camera on at all times to get the important moments!”

Cyberspace suddenly fell quiet and Julie looked up and around, wondering what had just happened. Even the music seemed softer, even though nobody had touched any of the dials from what she had seen.

“Hey!” Kira said, excitedly grabbing their attention. “Isn’t that the girl from “Ocean Alert”?”

“The most popular television show of all time?” Ethan asked, his jaw slowly dropping as they turned in unison. “Does anyone have a brown paper bag? I’m hyperventilating.”

It was like a movie scene, if Julie could even compare it. The girl who just walked in had overteased hair, dramatic makeup and was wearing a red cocktail dress that definitely didn’t look like it belonged in the cyber café. Everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch her as she walked around – Ethan had also, somehow, acquired his requested paper bag and was breathing heavily into it.

Hayley, as if having some sort of secret celebrity awareness powers, ran out from her office and over to the girl, Julie could just barely hear as she said, “Welcome to Hayley’s Cyberspace! What can I get you?”

“I’m just dying for a wheat grass shake,” the girl said, her voice soft and trying to be sultry. “With a twist of lemon.”

Julie watched Hayley’s face fall, “Oh, I’m so sorry. We just ran out of wheat grass. How about a banana berry smoothie?”

“Did I ask for a smoothie?” the girl questioned. “I’m fairly certain I asked for a wheat grass shake.”

“And as I said, we-“

“All right,” the girl started, “I’ll give you $100 for it”

Hayley laughed, confused. “I’m sorry, but you can’t buy what we don’t have.”

“Listen,” the other woman said. “I don’t know if you noticed this, but I’m Nikki Valentina. There is nothing I can’t buy.” She shook her head, disgusted. “Never mind. I’m over this place.”

Nikki Valentina, who Julie still wasn’t entirely sure who that was or who gave her the right to talk to Hayley that way, went to turn around and leave but was stopped by Cassidy shoving a microphone in her face. The Pink Ranger rolled her eyes.

“Who exactly is that?” she asked. The other Rangers and Trent turned to her, shocked.

“ _You_ don’t know who Nikki Valentina is?” Conner asked, still staring at the woman adoringly. “How?!”

“When do I have the chance to sit and watch television?” Julie rebutted. “Now seriously, who is she?”

“I have to meet her,” Ethan said, still in awe, “or my life will never be complete.”

Conner elbowed him, “I’ll introduce you at our wedding.”

Julie tried not to gag. “She’s not even that pretty,” she said. “Or nice, it looks like.” She watched as Cassidy was spurned by the woman and given a signed photo, but their classmate dropped it on the ground in anger.

“My shift is officially over,” Trent said with a smile as he walked up to Kira. “Ready to go?”

The Yellow Ranger smiled and hopped down from her bar stool and completely ignored Julie’s raised eyebrow in her direction.

“Where are you two going?” Ethan asked, confused.

“Trent’s going to show me some sketches he’s done for the cover of my demo,” Kira explained, straightening out her clothes which, Julie noticed, were nicer than what she normally wore to bum around Cyberspace. She turned to Julie, “Thank you for introducing me to Tanya, she’s been a big help with all of this.”

“I’m sure she’s a big help with other things too,” Julie said with a smirk. Kira cut a look at her and the Pink Ranger just sipped on her smoothie instead of replying.

The two walked away, but before they knew it, Kira climbed back up in the chair and rested her head on her arms.

“Back already?” Ethan asked from where he had buried himself back in his laptop. Julie tried to kick his leg in retaliation, but kicked Conner’s instead who shoved at her, almost making her fall off the stool.

“His dad called,” Kira explained, her words muffled by her arms. “He needed him at home. I can't believe I bought unripped jeans for no reason.”

* * *

“Come on guys!” Conner yelled as they ran downtown after an urgent communication from Dr. O. He didn’t really explain much, just a bunch of Drones and then another, separate, problem at the beach that he was going to take care of.

“Whoa,” Ethan couldn’t help but say as they skidded to a stop and saw the Tyranno Drones chasing the civilians everywhere. “This is just like some bad, low-budget movie.

“Only this is for real, Ethan,” Kira stressed.

“Yeah, real low-budget,” Julie added, her lip curling up.

“Oh yeah, right,” Ethan said, completely ignoring her.

The four of them completely lunged into the fray, sidestepping the civilians. As if the Drones had Ranger Radar, they broke away from their havoc and broke into groups to fight each individual Ranger. Julie, in her moments of silence before throwing the first punch, wondered how they divided themselves. Were they, like, individually programmed to fight a certain color?

The Drone she was fighting took the punch and stumbled back, only for two more to try and grab her. Julie kicked one out of the way, landing a solid blow with his shin, before throwing her head back and slamming into the face of the other one. She cartwheeled out of the way to give herself some more space as the group of drones started to clump up.

“Try this on for size,” she said as she teleported behind one, grabbed him, and teleported again – landing in front of a Tyranno Drone that was just about to hit her with its sword. It hit its friend instead and she couldn’t help but smirk, “I didn’t know I could actually do that, so thanks for being my lab rat!”

She heard Kira screaming and saw a bunch of Drones go flying and ran to join back up with the others as the all of the drones quickly grouped up.

“Who released the hounds?” Ethan asked, out of breath.

“Baha Men in 2000,” Julie added, throwing her fists up and ready to fight.

“You know Baha Men but _not_ Nikki Valentina?” Kira asked, confused. She shrugged.

“It was a group skate program – remind me and I’ll show you the videos later,” she explained.

“I know who’s putting them back where they belong,” Conner added. He straightened up and Julie heard the familiar buzz of his communicator becoming his morpher and felt her’s do the same. “Ready?”

“Ready,” the other three answered.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

“Tricera!”

“Tyranno!”

“Ptera!”

“Stego!”

“Let’s do it!”

The four, now morphed, Rangers ran back into the fray. Julie summoned her axe and raised it high above her head before slamming it down on one of the drones, causing it to crumple to the ground. She quickly reached out and knocked one, two, back with the handle of the axe and kicked the other way – striking at a third one.

A fourth grabbed her axe and tried to yank it away from her, but Julie just held on tighter and flipped with it, landing behind the drone that was now stuck holding onto the axe backwards. The Pink Ranger kicked out and knocked him down. “Didn’t see that coming, did you?”

All of the Tyranno Drones then disappeared into an Invisiportal at the same time.

“And I was just getting into the swing of things!” Julie complained, twirling her axe like a baton.

“That got ‘em,” Kira said, fist pumping. She put her morpher close to her mouth, “Dr. O, we’re heading to the beach.”

He didn’t answer, but the four Rangers took off quickly – jumping over staircases and benches as they ran. Julie knew she was athletic because of her time on the ice, and she knew Conner had to be because of soccer, but there was really something about either the Morphing Grid giving them some kind of boost or the Monster of the Week fights because Ethan and Kira kept up with them easily.

Pink and Red were still quicker though, and they were the first to skid around all of the filming equipment to see their missing Ranger.

“Dr. O! Are you okay?” Kira asked as they came to a stop next to him.

“Hey it’s Nikki!” Conner called, pointing towards the open door way of the community beach house. Julie looked and, yes, there was Nikki Valentina who didn’t seem bothered by the fact that there was a monster on the upper floor and was, instead, checking out her nails.

If they weren’t wearing helmets, Julie could’ve easily bet that Conner would be smirking as he started walking towards the tv star, “Check it out, baby,” he said, flexing in the suit. “It’s all about the red.”

Ethan then ran up and pushed in front of him. “Unless you prefer a kinder, gentler Power Ranger,” he said.

“Guys! Focus, please!” Julie called out irritated as the new Monster of the Week walked out onto the staircase from the upper deck. It was a shark, but floral? And also had random car parts attached to its body.

Mesogog was really running out of ideas here.

“I’m not finished with you yet!” the shark guy yelled as he pulled out an, honest to god, over-sized flower and fired multiple beams of light directly at them – causing them to try and jump out of the way. Julie and Kira succeeded in avoiding the blasts, but Ethan and Conner were caught directly in the crossfire.

Julie landed hard on the ground but didn’t miss when the shark guy jumped off the balcony and grabbed Nikki Valentina and disappeared into an Invisiportal. She pushed herself onto her feet right as Dr. Oliver ran up to them.

“You guys okay?” their teacher asked.

“I’ve been better,” Julie replied.

Kira, however, slapped both Ethan and Conner on the shoulders. “From now on, check your hormones at the door before you morph.”

“Let’s get back to the lab,” Dr. O suggested. “We gotta get her back.”

* * *

“This is not good,” Ethan groaned once they demorphed and he and Conner caught sight of their new afflictions. Julie, Kira, and Hayley sat at the computer, away from them as they were anxiously poking and looking at their faces in the mirror.

“You guys were lucky you were morphed,” Dr. O said as he walked behind them. “It could’ve been a lot worse.”

“Know that from experience, Dr. O?” Julie couldn’t help but ask with a smirk. He gave her a look and she turned to Kira and laughed.

“I can’t believe this,” Conner stressed. “How am I supposed to save Nikki now? Look at my face!”

“Mine looks like it should be delivered in 30 minutes or less,” Ethan cried.

The two girls rolled their eyes.

“You know, most of us could look past the rash and see the person on the inside,” Kira said, smugly.

Conner sighed, “Okay, Nikki Valentina is not like most of us.”

“Two arms, two legs – all seems the same to me,” Kira said.

“Except for the ego,” Julie added. “That is definitely not like most of us. Beauty fades.”

“And what arms and legs those are,” Ethan started. “Not to mention the rest of her.”

“Seems like Mesogog shares your infatuation,” Dr. Oliver said, interrupting.

Hayley sighed. “He’s thrown up a firewall around the Invisiportals,” she explained. “Not even the Raptor Cycles could get in.”

The group of Rangers, not currently obsessed with their appearance, tried to throw around ideas while Hayley typed on the keyboard to see if she could figure out a way around the firewall.

“Do we even know where Mesogog’s Island of Doom is?” Julie asked. “Could we just, I don’t know, go to it?”

“I’m not one hundred percent positive, but I think it’s in a different dimension,” Dr. Oliver said with a sigh. “The energy from the Invisiportals doesn’t actually link it to a physical place, more like an idea.”

“Wait guys,” Hayley said, interrupting. “I don’t know how it happened, but she’s back at the beach.”

“Yeah go Nikki,” Ethan said, gloating. “I told you she was smart.” He and Conner both had dorky smiles on their faces and Julie really wanted to punch them.

Kira rolled her eyes. “Smart? Yeah, as a bag of hammers.”

“Covered in slime,” Julie added. The two girls exchanged a smirk as they watched as an Invisiportal opened up on the beach and the shark monster appeared behind Nikki, causing her to scream.

“Should’ve seen that one coming,” Dr. O sighed. “Let’s go guys.”

Surprisingly, the two guys were able to pull themselves way from the mirror to get ready to morph. Julie’s communicator transformed into the morpher and she smiled.

“Ready?” Dr. O asked.

“Ready!” They all replied.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

* * *

“You again?” the monster cried as all five of the Rangers ran up to it on the beach. It had Nikki Valentina cornered.

“You’re safe now!” Conner called to her.

Another Invisiportal opened and Julie sighed – couldn’t they catch a break? – when Zeltrax dropped out of it and pointed his sword in their direction.

“Not for long,” Zeltrax said as he replied to Conner.

The five Rangers nodded at each other before leaping into the fight.

Dr. Oliver immediately squared off with Zeltrax, like normal, while the other four went after the shark monster.

Conner went for the first kick, but he was knocked back by the monster catching his foot. Kira tried to jump and spiral kick it, but she too was grabbed and thrown on the ground. Julie swung out with a punch and landed one, but her fist was grabbed on the second attempt and he twisted her arm, causing her to spin and fall to the ground. Ethan actually managed to land a hit, but the monster shot off a blast from his flower – hitting Conner, Kira, and Julie.

“Let’s see how you look after a little flower power!” it yelled. It fired a beam at Nikki who was running away, but missed because Devin knocked her to the ground.

“Why are they always around,” Julie yelled, looking for Cassidy who was almost always with her cameraman.

Before she could spot her, the monster fired another energy beam from his flower and hit the four of them – knocking them all back.

Julie and the others all climbed to their feet before going straight back into the fray, but not really doing anything. Despite the match up being four on one, the monster was getting ahead of them. It knocked them around like flies and Julie definitely hasn’t had this many falls since she was trying to learn her triple axel.

The monster ended up knocked them all down, _again_ , before laughing and starting to run away. Kira helped her up as Conner yelled, “Come on!” and the four raced after it.

It finally came to a stop in the beach access parking lot and the four Rangers managed to corner it.

“It’s time you learned a lesson!” Conner said, pointing at it.

“Yeah,” Ethan added. “Like, don’t blast people with a ray that turns their face into pepperoni pizza.”

“Good one Ethan,” Kira said.

“Really?

“No.”

“Also!” Julie added, interjecting. “Kidnapping is bad! Very bad! Even if she’s mean, you still cannot kidnap people and take them to creepy islands without their consent!”

The monster interrupted her by firing _another_ laser at them, which they all dived out of the way to avoid.

“That’s getting _so_ old,” Julie said as she rolled over and climbed to her feet.

She ran towards the monster and jumped, landing behind it right as Conner kicked it in it’s chest, knocking it back. In return, Julie gave it another kick and knocked it forward before teleporting to the front of the monster.

“Okay guys,” Ethan said, pulling out his blaster. “Let’s give this freak a blast!”

The other three followed his example and all fired at the same time, giving the monster a piece of it’s own medicine for once. They hit it dead on and it fell back, thankfully.

“Let’s put ‘em together!” The Blue Ranger directed. Julie quickly summoned her Stego Axe and got into her kneeling position as the base of the weapon.

“Z-Rex Blaster!” they cried.

“Ready?” Kira asked.

“Fire!” Conner ordered. The large blast from the Z-Rex Blaster was easily a lot more powerful than it would’ve been from their smaller, individual blasters and, even though they were barely able to land a physical hit on the monster – the Z-Rex Blaster did its job and annihilated it.

While the others cheered, Julie couldn’t help but say, “Get ready! It’s about get big!”

Like magic, the monster grew and looked even more terrifying when they were half the size of one of its teeth.

“Now I’m the big fish!” it said as it laughed.

“Brachio, Zord time!” Julie overheard Dr. Oliver say.

The four Zords of the Thundersaurus MegaZord were there in no time and the quad of colorful Rangers wasted no time in jumping into the cockpits of their original Zords and then transforming into their main MegaZord that more than had a chance at fighting the monster.

“I’m the catch of the day!” Shark boy said as it ran towards them. Even though they could barely land a hit, the MegaZord matched it blow for blow – neither one or the other gaining the upper hand in the fight.

Until they managed to strike gold and knock it back a couple of football field lengths away, only for it to open it’s mouth and fire a spray of water at them that, somehow, managed to interfere with the MegaZord controls.

“Eject!” Julie cried, pushing the button on her cockpit that would allow her to escape her Zord. The others, surprised, did the same thing and all four fell to the ground.

“What happened?” Kira asked once she landed. “What was that?”

“Guys, are you all right?” Dr. O asked, running up to them. He helped them all off the ground.

“Yeah,” Conner answered before looking up at the skyscraper-sized monster. “Something’s fishy.”

Julie’s jaw dropped as they watched as the shark monster _disappeared_ from the land and they quickly saw him in the middle of the water and waving his arms.

“I summon the Power of the Great Tsunami!” it said, causing the ocean to literally rise up.

“It’s a tidal wave!” Kira said, pointing.

Stressed, Julie looked to the others for any response on what to do, but Hayley thankfully came skidding up to them in Dr. Oliver’s jeep. The red head threw some kind of small, computer chip at the Pink Ranger who managed to catch it.

“Julie! I’ve been working on that for your Zord! Load it into your morpher,” the older woman explained. The teenager nodded and a little port on the side of her morpher popped open and the chip fit perfectly inside.

“Stella!” she called to her Zord who looked over to her. “You ready?”

The pink StegoZord let out a loud roar.

“Kira, Conner, Ethan – form the MegaZord,” Julie instructed. “Stella and I have a plan.”

“Right!” the other three said. She watched as the primary color Rangers jumped back into their cockpits and formed the Thundersaurus MegaZord in record time. The Pink Ranger nodded at her Zord.

“Surfs up, baby!” she called. Julie jumped into the cockpit of her own Zord as it’s back opened up – becoming flat.

Without even having to say anything, the others piloted the MegaZord to jump on the StegoZord’s back – at the connection, Julie transferred to the MegaZord cockpit, surprised at the feeling of not controlling the legs for once.

“Now it’s our turn!” Kira said, cheering.

“Let’s turn this fool into a plate of sushi,” Conner added.

“Talk about a fish out of water,” Ethan said.

“Cowabunga, dude,” Julie called. “StegoZord, go!”

With the Thundersaurus MegaZord balanced on its back, the StegoZord built up a good running start before jumping and soaring into the ocean and started racing towards the monster.

“Hey!” the shark called. “Where did you get that?”

The shark stood in the way of the tidal wave and was unscathed as it built around it, but the MegaZord, on the other hand, rode up the swell and dodged out of the way – not even getting wet from the spray.

“Hanging ten!” the four Rangers called as the MegaZord pushed _past_ the monstrous tidal wave and right up to the monster, striking at it with the armored plates that belonged to the StegoZord, easily cutting it down to size while they passed it.

The MegaZord, then, rode up the giant wave and jumped off the top.

“Dino Drill!” they called. While still riding on their Stego-sized surfboard, the Tyranno tail drill arm started spinning and they _rinsed_ through the monster as if it were nothing.

Julie turned around and watched as the monster was destroyed, exploding into thousands of pieces. And when it was officially gone, the giant tsunami wave disappeared into the clouds – leaving it as just a normal day.

“We did it!” someone celebrated. Julie laughed.

“Go Stella! You rock!”

Her morpher roared with the answering celebration from her Zord and Julie couldn’t help but smile.

* * *

Julie couldn’t help but stretch as the sun warmed her skin, thankful for the break. After the fight, Conner and Ethan wanted to hang out and try to watch the filming of “Oceans Alert” while Kira and Julie wanted to laugh at them.

“So what are you going to do about your crush on Conner,” the Yellow Ranger said, completely out of the blue.

Stunned, Julie tripped over a rock and fell – barely managing to catch herself and making it seem like a stumble.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she managed to stutter out. The Yellow Ranger threw an arm around her shoulder and Julie felt the strong urge to run away. “I don’t have a _crush_. Especially not on-“

“You can tell me,” Kira said. “Besides, it’s not like it’s super noticeable. He’s too dense to even realize. Besides, your secret is safe with me.”

Julie sighed, “I’m not-“ she stopped the other girl and looked around, making sure neither of the boys were around. Ethan would give her all kinds of grief for it and Conner _definitely_ couldn’t know. “Look, I’ve never had any kind of relationship,” she explained. “I’ve never been on a date, never kissed anyone – the full works. I’ve always been way to busy with skating. And now with skating and taking two years of classes and being a Ranger? There’s no way anything at all can happen.”

“Besides,” she added, looking over to where Conner and Ethan were waltzing up to the tent where _Nikki Valentina_ was getting ready. “It’s not like I’m his type anyway.”

“If he can’t see your worth, he’s not worth it,” the other girl said.

Julie shrugged, “So you say, but boys like Conner go for girls like _Nikki Valentina_ , not for girls like Julie Stewart.”

Kira looked at her sadly before interlocking their arms at the elbows and dragging her over to where the boys were now backing away from the tv star instead of towards her.

“So,” she said with a smirk. “You guys put the moves on Nikki?”

Ethan shook his head as he continued to back up, “No, it turns out-“

“She is _wack_ ,” Conner finished. Julie snickered.

“Well guys,” Kira started. “I’d say you learned a very valuable lesson.”

Conner laughed. “What, sticking to cheerleaders?” The Pink Ranger kept the smile plastered on her face at his answer but continued to walk.

“He’s kidding,” Ethan added. “We know, you can’t judge a book by its cover, even a prime one like Nikki’s.” The two boys sat on the bench of picnic table and all four turned to watch as the actors started acting.

“Wait, is that _Devin_?” Julie asked, gobsmacked as Nikki Valentina leaned down to give the boy mouth to mouth. “Since when does he do tv?”

“God he’s so lucky,” Conner said, staring wistfully at the scene. “I’d give anything.”

“Come on bozos,” Kira said, pulled the two of them up. “Let’s go, I think I hear Cassidy making a commotion and we probably don’t want to get trapped.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This entire episode was literally just an introduction for the StegoZord, but Julie already had it so she got an upgrade! Yay! On Friday we start the evil, White Ranger arc so get pumped!


	11. White Thunder Part 1

_"So, what are you going to do about your crush on Conner?”_

_What are you going to do?_

_Your crush?_

_Your crush on Conner?_

What _would_ she do about Conner?

First off, it definitely didn’t seem like Julie was in any way, shape, or form Conner’s type. He seemed to go for more of the blonde bimbo cheerleader kind of girl.

She? Was not that. She was basically the antithesis of that. So much so, that she gets paid to write papers for the blonde-bimbo-cheerleaders in her English class.

Second, she was _way_ too busy. The other Rangers only had a fraction of an idea what she actually did – they’d never really understand the full picture. Practice at 4 am, classes from 8 to 3 and then two years worth of homework and crimefighting and maybe, _just maybe_ , some sleep thrown in in the time between. But that also didn’t cover the Ranger Training that Dr. Oliver had them doing, or the interviews that she was doing with figure skating forums and websites to get ready for her debut post accident, or literally even just chiseling out a small part of the day to eat.

 _“Boys are a waste of time,”_ her mother always said.

And third? They were _teammates_. What if, against all odds, Julie actually _was_ Conner’s type? And that he was perfectly okay with only getting a sliver of her attention because of everything else she was doing? What if, after all of that, he changed his mind and decided that he couldn’t do it. How would that affect the team?

The Red Ranger was the _leader_. Sure, Dr. Oliver had the experience, but unless it was life or death he tended to defer to Conner which was doing great things for the teenager’s self-esteem, but still. How would Kira and Ethan and Dr. Oliver and Hayley react to them if they broke up? How would they treat _each other_? No one knew how long they would be Rangers, and the Dino Gems weren’t things they could use to pass down the Power like what had happened when Dr. O and Julie’s brother were younger. They could be doing this for _years_ , and if they dated and it didn’t work?

Julie wanted to scream, but the ice rink was slowly starting to fill up with people, whether it be kids coming in for their morning weekend class or adults just wanted to skate, so to let out all of her frustrations in as quiet of a way as possible, Julie put it all into her skating and pushed off with her toe pick, turning once, twice, three, and finally four, times around before dropping into a landing and holding her arms out. Her chest heaved at the exertion and she won’t ignore the now shaking in her thighs. Her last spin was a little low and it sent a jolt up her leg in complaint.

She was still panting as she heard clapping and turned to see her coach staring at her with a dropped jaw and shine in her eyes. The little kids who were warming up for their beginners class were staring at her in awe.

“JULIE STEWART,” her coach yelled. “SINCE WHEN HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO DO A QUAD TOE?”

The teenager skated over to her coach because now everyone at the rink was _staring_ at her, even the Zamboni drivers and the guy she has math class with who works the snack bar. The older woman threw her arms around Julie in excitement and the younger had to quickly counterbalance them.

“I’ve never seen you do that!” Coach Theresa continued. “That was amazing! Oh, we gotta rework your long program now. A quad salchow _and_ a quad toe? That’s _never_ been seen before. You’ll be on podiums in no time.”

Julie smiled at the woman. “That sounds great! Yeah, I didn’t even realize,” she said. “My landing was kind of shaky, though.”

“We have a couple of weeks to get it perfect before Worlds,” her coach said. “If you can do that, what else can you do? A triple lutz? A _quad_ axel?”

The Pink Ranger laughed as she stepped off the ice, her coach following behind her. “No woman has ever hit any of those, especially not ratified in any competition and-“

“But I just watched you do it,” Coach Theresa said, seriously. “Julie, you hitting that quad toe? That can completely change your game.” She grabbed Julie’s hands in her’s and sincerely looked into her eyes. The teenager was almost disturbed by her passion. “All of those idiots after your accident, who couldn’t keep their mouths shut even though they don’t know a euler from an axel? Baby girl, you’re going to prove them wrong.”

The older woman threw her arms around Julie one last time and gave her a big squeeze before getting back on the ice and starting the beginner lesson, leaving Julie standing on the edge of the rink, adrift.

Then, her communicator beeped from where she had left it by her bag and Julie quickly grabbed it before hiding in the bleachers away from eyes.

“Go for Julie,” she said.

 _“Hurry up Princess,”_ Conner said. _“We’re outside waiting. Dr. O needs us in some forest somewhere.”_

“So like normal? I’m on my way.”

She quickly changed out her skates for her boots and grabbed her backpack in one hand and her skates in the other and rushed out the door, barely needing to get her land legs back after skating for so many years.

Just as he said, Conner, Ethan, and Kira were waiting in the Red Ranger’s car up front. Julie threw her bag and skates in Conner’s popped trunk as Ethan got out and pushed his seat forward so she could slide in.

“How was practice?” Kira asked once they were all settled back in the car and Conner started driving. Julie grinned.

“It was great! Coach actually thinks I have a really good chance at the next competition that we’re doing and we’re reworking my long program because I landed a quad toe today,” she said, excited. Julie looked around and saw that Conner was too busy focused on driving and Ethan had headphones in, but Kira was still looking at her – even though she had a notebook with lyrics on her lap. The Pink Ranger sighed. “It’s a really hard jump, but yeah. It went fine.”

“I wonder what Dr. O wants,” Conner asked from the front seat. “He usually doesn’t call this early.”

Ethan took off his headphones as he and Kira started to throw out suggestions to the driver about what they could possibly be needed for and Julie felt herself slump against the window.

At least her coach was happy for her.

* * *

The forest Dr. Oliver had them meet at was literally in the middle of nowhere, it definitely wouldn’t look out of place in a horror movie. They finally found their teacher as he was standing in the middle of a bunch of rubble, smoke still wafting from whatever had happened.

“We came as quick as we could,” Ethan said as they got up closer. “Whatcha find?”

“Some kind of storage unit,” their teacher answered, pushing a button on a ridiculous looking scanner in his hands. “The energy readings are so intense, this meter can’t register them.”

“What kind of energy?” Conner asked, his hands in his pockets.

The Black Ranger was silent, for a second, before, “The same kind that’s in your morphers.”

Julie’s jaw dropped.

“You saying there’s a dino gem in here?” Kira asked.

“Or are you saying there _was_ a dino gem in here,” Julie added, looking around at the destruction.

“There was, but not anymore,” Dr. O answered truthfully.

Julie ran a hand through her hair in awe. Another dino gem? Did that mean another Ranger?

And where did it go? Who had it?

“I thought you had all kinds of things that would pick up if there was a gem out here,” Kira insisted.

Dr. Oliver shook his head, “Someone must have hidden it. When the cloaking device deactivated, the readings went off the scale.”

The four teenagers looked at each other in shock before Conner managed to get out, “So is this good news or bad news?”

“Guess that depends on who’s got the gem,” Dr. O replied.

The five of them quickly made their way back to the lab, where Hayley was already waiting for them and typing away at something on the computer. Dr. O was reading over some notes of his while the teenagers divided up and worked on homework.

Julie took up her usual spot on the floor near where their Raptor Riders were stabled and leaned against the wall as she highlighted her very well-detailed notes. She had two tests this week and needed to work for it.

“Who do you think has it?” Conner asked, coming to sit next to her with his battered and dog-eared copy of _To Kill a Mockingbird_ that he was having to read for English. It didn’t even look like he had started, honestly.

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, “Who knows? God, I hope it’s anyone but Mesogog,” she said. “Also, does that mean that we have a new teammate? There’s already five of us how will that work?”

“I assume we’ll be split into threes,” Ethan said, rolling over to them in his chair. He had his headphones around his neck and his sidekick in his hand. “You know, the primary colors and the not primary colors.”

“So, the three of you and then me, Dr. O, and the mystery guy,” Julie asked, kind of hurt.

Ethan just shrugged, “Well yeah,” he said. “If you look at Ranger history, almost every team is built around the three primary color Rangers. We started off weird, with just having four, but Dr. O evened it out. You Zord doesn’t even technically need to be with the Thundersaurus MegaZord, it was a surfboard.”

Julie honestly didn’t know what to say, to hear the actual facts he spit out that were, basically, telling her she was useless, the second string. Conner didn’t say anything, which meant he probably agreed.

Thankfully, before she could either yell at them or cry, the computer started beeping and they all pulled themselves together and ran over to it.

“I think I have something,” the red headed woman said.

“Unbelievable,” they overheard their teacher say in response.

The four hurried over and looked past the two adults, only to see a large sunflower monster on the screen walking through downtown.

“Guess we got here just in time,” Ethan said.

“Any particular reason for that guy?” Kira asked.

“Yeah, they’re usually just causing destruction,” Julie added. “Remember Donkeyvac and the old people thing? Man, I miss how simple they used to be.”

“It’s hard to tell,” Dr. Oliver said, speaking over her. “It seems like he’s actually looking for something.”

Conner sighed, “Well, it’s not going to like what it finds. Come on guys.”

The four teenagers moved away from the computers to the middle of the room and Julie watched as her communicator with the pink dino gem turned into the StegoZord head that she was all too familiar with.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

* * *

“Hey, over here!” Conner called at the monster once they finally caught up to it. Julie almost physically recoiled once she got a good look at the thing. It definitely made her never want to see another sunflower again and would surely give her nightmares with its twenty-something eyes. “Is there something we can help you with?”

“Red, Blue, Yellow…” the monster started, counting them. “No, I’m looking for something in basic white.”

“Hey! Pink!” Julie said, waving her arm. “I’m here too!”

The monster scoffed at her. “Pink? Definitely not.”

“Do you have any clue what he’s talking about?” Kira asked.

“Besides being rude?” Julie answered.

“Nope, none,” Conner said. The four of them snapped into fighting positions, only to have to immediately backflip away as the Sunflower Monster guy fired a bright yellow energy beam at them. It hit the ground beneath where they had just been standing and sparks were sent up.

A white blur ran passed them and started attacking the monster as it screamed, “What’s going on?” And Julie gaped as it went back and forth a couple of times before the monster burst into shreds.

“What _is_ that?” Conner asked.

“I don’t know!” Kira added, just as confused.

“Hopefully it doesn’t see _us_ as it’s next victim,” Julie said, slightly scared. “It took the monster out in _seconds_.”

But, instead of whatever it was attacking them, the white blur ran off and jumped on top of a ten-story building and Julie quickly lost sight of it.

“You guys saw that, right?” Conner asked into his communicator.

“What there even was to see,” Julie mumbled. Kira elbowed her.

 _“Yeah, we’re still trying to figure out what it was,”_ Dr. O answered.

“We’ll try and follow it,” Conner responded. He hung up his communicator before saying, “Come on!” And the other Rangers followed.

The four came to a stop in an empty parking lot which was on the other side of the building the blur had jumped on top of.

“It should be around here somewhere,” Conner said, looking around.

“I don’t see anything,” Ethan added.

“Look harder.”

The four quickly turned to see what was the white blue step out from behind a stone pillar and Julie gasped.

It was definitely a Ranger that looked ten times more extreme than either of them. It’s base suit was white with black triangles went up and down both of its side and the underside of its arms, almost looking like teeth. It had a big, gold collar like Dr. O’s Black Ranger suit had and the helmet had a red eyepiece surrounded by the same black spikes and a black fin on its head.

“Who is it?” Kira asked.

“And how come he gets the phat helmet?” Ethan added.

“We found whoever has the dino gem, that’s for sure,” Julie said, pointing to the morpher on the Ranger’s wrist.

“This guy a friend of yours, Dr. O?” Conner asked into the communicator.

 _“Never saw him before,”_ their teacher said, his voice growing more serious than it had any right to be. It made Julie tense.

If their teacher was uneasy about this, surely something was wrong.

“Okay,” Conner said, running towards the White Ranger, only to be stopped as the other Ranger spoke.

“Don’t come any closer,” it said, its voice robot and unnatural sounding. “You’ll force me to do something I don’t want to do.”

“What do you mean by that?” Conner couldn’t help but ask.

“Let me show you,” the mysterious White Ranger said.

The other Ranger pulled, what looked like, a white and gold quill out of its belt before spinning it around. “White Drago Sword,” it said. The Ranger spun it around a few times and Julie watched in trepidation as whatever it was doing was staying in the air around it, and looking very pointy. “Laser arrows!”

All of the pointy, apparent, laser arrows turned as one towards the four Rangers and the mystery Ranger commanded, “Fire.”

The four Rangers didn’t even have time to dodge as they were hit with a barrage of arrows that were so fast they could barely see. They could only feel as they hit them from all sides. Julie joined the others in flying back and landing on the ground.

“Was that really necessary?” Conner groaned as he pushed himself up.

“Seriously,” Julie said, holding her side. “What happened to Ranger love.”

“That was just a warning,” White Ranger said. As suddenly as he appeared, he swiped his quill/sword thing down and disappeared in a brilliant flash of colored light.

“I don’t think its going to be a teammate,” Julie couldn’t help but say in response to the previous conversation that she had had with Ethan and Conner back in the lab.

She didn’t even know if she _wanted_ it as a teammate at this point. Those laser arrows hurt!

* * *

The four Rangers didn’t bother to demorph as they ran back to the lab, only taking their helmets off as they came down the stairs. Julie had the strong feeling that they would be in and out, especially with a new Ranger like this on the loose. Mesogog would surely do something and they needed to ready, not spending precious time morphing.

“How’s it going?” Kira asked as they ran up. On the computer screen was what looked like a model of the White Ranger and bunch of DNA and data streams.

The computer beeped and flashed away from the data image and to their city footage, only to see the White Ranger come out of his colorful portal and land downtown.

“Oh great,” Ethan said. “He’s back.”

“And looking for more trouble, no doubt,” Kira added. Julie clutched her helmet tighter as she watched the screen, trying to see anything familiar in the other Ranger.

“You guys better get over there,” Dr. O suggested. “Make sure he doesn’t go completely medieval on any civilians.”

Julie nodded and put her helmet back on, clicking it into place before running out with the others.

They found him downtown, easily enough. It didn’t seem like the Ranger was doing anything – just standing around. He definitely wasn’t out antagonizing civilians as the place he was on top of was a practically deserted factory.

“Back so soon?” Conner said, antagonizing the other Ranger. Julie was thankful that the helmet hid her biting her lip because this definitely wasn’t going to go well. “We thought you made your point last time.”

The Red Ranger pulled up his fist to get ready to fight as the White Ranger slowly turned around.

“I’ve only just started,” he said. “You want some more?” He raised his arms as if goading them.

And they ran.

Julie watched as both Ethan and Kira were swatted away and tried to go low, but it didn’t matter – he hit her with his sword and she was knocked to the ground in time to see him and Conner engage. Her teammate didn’t immediately go down, but a dodged punch and one wrist grab later, the White Ranger threw him on the ground.

They all got up and tried to get a hit in, but were pushed back again. The White Ranger jumped back himself before saying, “Come on!” and summoning his awful laser arrows. He didn’t give any warning as he fired them.

This time, they were all so close that the impact of the arrows caused them to flip backwards, their suits starting to spark. The four Rangers landed in a pile fifteen feet away.

“Weaklings,” the White Ranger said, as if he were bored. Julie and the others struggled to their feet as he laughed and ran towards them, using his superspeed.

The Pink Ranger couldn’t see anything, but felt two slice marks on her chest one after the other. Once the blur stopped, everything was silent for a second, before their suits started to smoke and burst into sparks again. Julie cried out at the pain, trying to curl in on herself to make it stop.

“Alright, what’s the deal,” Conner asked as he pushed himself up shakily. From her point on the ground, Julie could see his legs shaking. “We tried to be nice, just extending a little Ranger love, and this is what we get?”

“I’m not here to make friends,” the White Ranger said as they all slowly pushed themselves to their feet. Julie couldn’t even straighten out her back from all of the pain.

“Then what is it?” Conner all but yelled. “What do you want?”

“Maybe we can help!” Julie said. “We’re all Rangers! We should be on the same side!”

“That isn’t something you need to know,” the White Ranger said. “Same side? There will be no sides when I’m done. All that’s important right now is that there are four Rangers too many, and I’m here to change that.”

Julie glared at the other Ranger through her helmet as Conner said, “Go for it.” And the four Rangers and the one White Ranger all ran towards each other and the same scene from before happened again, he swatted them away like flies. It didn’t matter if they went up against him one on one or two on one or _three_ on one, he knocked them back and sliced at them with his sword and didn’t even look tired while Julie felt like she was going to collapse.

“That should do it,” he said with an evil chuckle.

“Think we’re just gonna walk away?” Kira asked, running in front of the boys as they tried to get to their feet.

“Not gonna happen!” Ethan said. He immediately pulled out his blaster and went to fire-

Only for him and Kira to be hit and knocked to the ground. Julie screamed out “NO!” at the same time as Conner and ran over to her teammates, her _friends_ to see if they were okay.

“Are you okay?” she heard Conner ask. Kira didn’t even get time to answer as Ethan quickly pushed himself to his feet.

“All right! Party time’s over,” he said. He lifted his blaster to shoot.

“Wait! Don’t!” Julie looked over to see a morphed Dr. Oliver run over to them and try to wrestle Ethan’s blaster away from him.

The White Ranger started laughing again.

“We don’t know what he’s capable of,” Dr. O said, holding tightly to Ethan’s blaster. “He’s got Power we might not be able to deal with.”

The five Rangers gathered around each other, the presence of their fifth Ranger giving them some of their strength back.

“We don’t want to hurt you,” Dr. O said, holding his hands out placatingly as if the White Ranger was a wild dinosaur instead of an awful person. “Just tell us why you’re here.”

“Why am I here,” the White Ranger started, turning around. His sword was slung over his shoulder. “Let me see… to defeat you?”

“That does it!” Ethan shouted. He and Kira nodded at each other and had pulled their sabers out when nobody was paying attention and both of them charged into the fight.

“Wait!” Dr. Oliver called. Julie could only watch in horror as the Blue and Yellow Rangers met the White Ranger head on, his single sword stopping both of their strikes. He easily flipped them up, breaking his guard and knocking them off balance. The two ran forward and tried to turn around to strike, but were met with the White Ranger swinging his sword. Julie held her gloved hand to her mouth in shock as sparks and smoke started to fly out from their suits.

If they kept this up, their morphs would break.

The two attacking Rangers were thrown off the roof, landing harshly in the parking lot below. The White Ranger flawlessly swan dove after them.

“What do we do?” Julie asked as the three Rangers that remained on the roof ran to the edge and looked down. She watched in horrified awe as Kira and Ethan kept getting knocked down and trying to fight him.

“I don’t know,” Conner said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “We have to help!”

“No!” Dr. Oliver said. “He’s too strong.”

“So we’re just going to let our friends get destroyed?” Julie asked, choking up. She let out a scream as the White Ranger’s sword interlocked with both Kira’s Ptera Grips and Ethan’s Tricera Shield and sent a current of what looked like painful energy down their weapons and into their bodies, before throwing them back.

When they landed, their morph broke.

“Okay that’s it,” Dr. O said. He jumped down from the roof and they could hear him shout. “Kira! Ethan!”

The White Ranger, in return, shouted, “Bring it!” and the Black and the White Rangers went into battle. Dr. O’s Brachio Staff interlocked with the White Ranger’s sword and the same current of energy appeared again and Dr. O was thrown back. When he landed, his morph also broke.

“Let’s go,” Conner said.

While the White Ranger was distracted by his take down of Dr. Oliver, the Pink and the Red Rangers jumped off the roof and ran full force the enemy, tackling him. Their blow took him to the ground and destroyed a barricade in the process.

“I want some answers now!” Conner said as the three of them stood up. The White Ranger instead rushed them. He went to kick Conner but, against all odds, Conner grabbed his foot stop him. “I’m giving you one last chance!”

The White Ranger pulled away and sliced at him, knocking him away. Julie couldn’t even blink before she was struck as well. The force of the blow sent her into Conner’s demorphed form. The impact from her landing caused her morph to break as well.

“You were saying?” the White Ranger said, holding his sword menacingly at them. The other Rangers ran over to them, as much as they could run at least, while keeping their eyes on the evil Ranger. Dr. O and Kira pulled Conner up while the Blue Ranger helped her to her feet. She let out a cry of pain as she put pressure on her leg, where her supposedly healed injury was.

“You alright?” Dr. O said.

“Yeah, I think so,” Conner managed to get out.

“I’ve been better,” Julie added, gritting her teeth on another pulse of pain. “I’ve also been worse, if that’s any consolation.”

“You’ve been warned, Power Rangers,” White Ranger said, pointing his sword at them. “Stay outta my way or be destroyed.”

Julie held tightly to Ethan as they watched the White Ranger turn his back jump away in a blur.

“Guys, we’ve got big trouble,” Dr. Oliver stated.

* * *

“It wasn’t supposed to go this way, was it?” Ethan asked as they all sat together in the lab. Julie held an ice pack to her knee, the ice doing little to relieve the pain – but a little was better than none. It was difficult through her jeans, but she didn’t want her teammates to see the monstrous scar that took over her entire leg.

“An evil White Ranger?” Dr. Oliver asked. “No. Of course, it’s been known to happen.”

“So, what do we do?” Kira asked, exhausted.

“Is there anything we _can_ do?” Julie added, gritting her teeth from the pain.

“How are we supposed to fight him if we can’t get near him?” Conner asked.

Dr. Oliver sighed and stood up, looking pensively in the distance. It was then that Julie remember that he was once an evil Ranger himself.

“We figure out who this is and what he wants before it’s too late.”


	12. White Thunder Part 2

_Dr. Oliver sighed and stood up, looking pensively in the distance. It was then that Julie remember that he was once an evil Ranger himself._

_“We figure out who this is and what he wants before it’s too late.”_

“So there’s an evil Ranger.”

“Yep.”

“An evil _white_ Ranger.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And you’re _positive_ he’s evil.”

“I have the bruises to prove it.”

Julie watched as her brother sighed and placed his face in his hands. She straightened her back as his shoulders sank and crossed her legs as she waited for his response.

It had been two full days since their first battle with the evil White Ranger and Julie was still upset at how badly they had been defeated. It had been completely effortless for the other Ranger to destroy them – if he would have kept going, they probably would have died. Dr. Oliver had said that he and Hayley had worked tirelessly on connecting their morphers to the grid and the fact that they were knocked out of their morph? Definitely didn’t bode well for them.

The once-Blue Turbo Ranger scrubbed his face and looked up at her through his hair fringe and Julie put on a reluctant smile.

“I’m not sure if we have this,” she finally admitted. “This… is entirely out of anything we thought we would deal with. Dr. O has some experience, but even _he_ says that the new White Ranger is stronger than even Jason and Kimberly when they were possessed by Maligore.” And _that_ had been a not-so-fun history lesson that Ethan had insisted on – the history of past evil Rangers. There were way more than Julie had thought and the only one that was described as somewhat close, was Dr. O himself.

Justin tapped his chin before sighing again. “Let me make some calls,” he said. “I know everyone who held the Zeo Powers still has access, but I don’t know if they could even be controlled.”

“What do you mean?” Julie asked, confused. “Could they still morph?”

“Most definitely,” he explained. “But, and this is all second hand from Rocky who wasn’t the clearest at the time, the Zeo Powers are connected to the Zeo Crystal and they were told that they would continue to amass Power. No one, at least as far as I know, has tried to use the Zeo Powers since the late 90’s – I don’t know if they could even _safely_ morph.”

“But…”

Once again, Justin sighed, “But just in case things get worse here, they have the ability. The Astro Rangers also still have theirs. And I have a slightly battered Mountain Blaster in a storage garage upstate.”

Julie perked up. “So there’s backup”

Justin nodded. “Just in case the worst happens and the five of you are destroyed, we could have at least two teams, maybe two and a half, ready to step in.”

The Pink Ranger felt herself tear up. She hadn’t wanted to have this talk with her brother, but he had realized that she was more skittish than usual – any beep that could have possibly sounded like her communicator going off had made her jump ten feet in the air. She hadn’t left the house at all except for school or practice, and even then it was a struggle.

She had never been this scared before.

“But don’t die, okay Little Pain?” Justin said, a wry smile on his face. Julie lunged from her seat on the couch to hug her brother tightly.

And she would never mention how tight he held her, worried for her safety.

* * *

Julie had just gotten into Justin’s car after a long day of practice when her communicator finally went off and she felt herself freeze up at the sound.

“Answer it,” her brother said.

She nodded, trembling. “Go for Julie.” She winced at how small her voice sounded, hopefully no one would notice.

 _“Jules, you need to get to the lab,”_ Conner said, his voice carrying inside the car. _“There’s something you gotta see.”_

Julie glanced over at her brother who nodded and put the car into drive. “I’m on my way, Jay’s dropping me off.”

_“Hurry. Ethan and Kira are on their way too.”_

“Is it…”

_“No, something weirder. Conner out.”_

She let out a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding as Justin pushed harder in the gas as they passed the sign for Reefside city limits. There wasn’t any news of the evil White Ranger, but at this point no news was good news and she didn’t have to face him again.

Julie knew she was being ridiculous and could say it out loud if anyone asked, but there was just _something_ about being knocked out of her morph – one of the places she felt the most safe – that shook her. Justin had said that he had been knocked out a couple of times, but that was because his connection to the Grid and Powers were created by a bunch of people who just graduated high school. Her’s was because two M.I.T. grads decided to play with dinosaurs one day.

“Be safe,” Justin said as she unbuckled her seat belt and opened the car door. “Rocky and Adam are two hours away and can be here quicker if they need to, but don’t let them need to.”

She nodded. “I’ll do my best. Love you, bro.”

Justin waved in the rearview mirror as he drove off and Julie steeled herself before walking into Dr. Oliver’s unlocked front door and down into the lab.

Dr. O and Conner were sitting at the computer, staring at the screen as it flickered from one video to another. She walked up behind them and placed a hand on the back of Conner’s chair.

“What’s up?” she asked. “Where are Ethan and Kira?”

“They should be here soon,” Conner said. “They got held up in a traffic jam downtown.”

“Look at this,” Dr. O said. She turned her attention to the screen and watched as he zoomed in on a dino egg on the docks. “It’s about to hatch. Same goes for this one.” He flipped to another screen to show a _different_ egg at a completely different place.

“Multiple eggs?” she asked. “But that’s good, right? More Zords and weapons against this mystery Ranger.”

“Hopefully,” Dr. O answered, pensive.

Hurried sounds came from the stairs behind them and Julie turned around to see the Blue and Yellow Rangers rushing into the lab.

“Hey Dr. O, we came as soon as we got the message,” Ethan said, out of breath. Julie raised her eyebrows at Conner, confused, but the Red Ranger just shook his head.

Was she the only one he actually talked to over the comms?

“You guys gotta see this,” Conner said, pointing at the screens.

“Please tell me you know who the White Ranger is,” Kira pleaded.

“Not quite,” Dr. O sighed. “But look at this.”

He zoomed in on one of the eggs and Julie watched as Ethan’s jaw dropped. “It looks like it’s about to pop,” he said.

“It is,” Dr. O replied.

“Just wait,” Julie said. Kira cut a confused look at her, but she just nodded to the screen.

“What about that one?” Conner asked, pointing to the other.

“Dinozord eggs all over the place,” Kira noted.

“It’s so strange,” Julie said. “We were barely able to find the Dimetrodon egg, but two at once? That’s insane.”

“Hey, you think this is what Easter was like millions of years ago?” Ethan asked.

Julie turned to him and slapped his shoulder when she saw the smile on his face. “Seriously dude?”

“How does he come up with this stuff?” Conner asked, shaking his head while still focusing on the two images of the Dino eggs.

“Conner, Julie, Kira,” Dr. O started. “You three go to the warehouse. Ethan, you come with me to the docks. We can talk about your Dino Easter Theory.”

“But who would be the Easter Bunny?” Julie asked as Conner and Dr. O both stood up and the five of them started ascending the stairs. “Was there some sort of prehistoric rabbit-like ancestor?”

“I don’t see how all of the eggs wouldn’t get stepped on,” Conner said.

“Was there also a Dino Jesus?” Kira asked. “Or are we avoiding the religious part of the holiday and focusing on the egg part?”

“How would the Dino Romans crucify Dino Jesus?” Julie asked. “Like, I don’t think any dinosaur had the ability to stretch their arms out. Would Dino crucifixion just be being thrown into a volcano?”

Ethan sighed, “I regret my life choices.”

“Hey!” Julie said. “I’m just trying to figure out the story of Dino Easter to tell the Dino kids at Dino Sunday School.”

* * *

Julie and Kira followed closely beside Conner as he used the weird energy scanner that Dr. O had given them when they split up. Julie couldn’t help but look around the warehouse, a little nervous. It wasn’t abandoned by any means, but there were no workers there currently because of the weekend and it was a little sketchy.

“This makes no sense,” Conner sighed, waving the scanner back and forth.

“Are you getting anything?” Kira asked.

“I don’t know how to read this thing,” the Red Ranger admitted as he turned the scanner off. Julie groaned. “Why didn’t he give Ethan geek duty?”

Kira rolled her eyes, “Let me see it.” Conner shrugged his shoulders as he handed it over and Julie just shook her head.

“Why did you take it if you didn’t know how to read it?” she asked. He shrugged again.

“I don’t know, I wanted to feel important.”

Kira turned the scanner back on and slowly started to move it in a circle around herself like a dowsing rod. She didn’t even have to turn far before the beeping started. The three looked up and saw a doorway leading deeper into the warehouse and Julie gulped.

This didn’t look good.

“It’s coming from over here,” Kira explained. She and Conner jogged over to the ramp down into the dark hallway and Julie reluctantly followed, still trying to keep an eye on their surroundings. “Why does it always have to be a creepy, abandoned place?”

“Because Dino Jesus hates us,” Julie couldn’t help but say.

Conner gave her a shove before sighing, “Let’s just get it and get out of here.”

The three ran down the ramp and down a couple of hallways before the beeping from the scanner started to get louder. Kira stepped in front and held it with both hands, focusing intently on it, while Conner and Julie followed close behind. “This way.”

The hallway the beeping led them too was pretty dim despite the bright light of the middle of the day outside and Julie held her arms close to herself as they passed crates and containers covered in tarps and drop clothes, more than slightly afraid that something or _someone_ would jump out at them at any minute.

She had been glancing behind them when she saw the lights flickering from the walls around them and heard the sounds of crackling energy.

“At least we know it’s not abandoned,” Kira said sheepishly. The Pink Ranger closed her eyes and sent a plead to Dino Jesus or whoever was up there before turning back around to see what the others were looking at.

They turned a corner of the hallway and Julie bit her lip to hard she drew blood in the attempt not to scream, because in the warehouse was none other than the White Ranger shooting a stream of yellow energy at a Dino egg that was sitting on a shipping crate.

“Aw, terrific,” Conner muttered.

“More like terrorific,” Julie added. She thought she saw the White Ranger’s head tilt towards them and grabbed the other two by their shirts and pulled them back around the corner, slamming against the wall as her heart nearly pounded out of her chest.

“You want to try talking to him?” Kira asked.

“He doesn’t seem like much of a conversationalist,” Julie said. “Maybe we should send him a letter. Or a telegram. Or a messenger pigeon.”

“How about we just morph, kick his butt, and take his egg instead?” Conner said. Julie gulped.

“Yeah,” Kira admitted. “I like that better.”

The two pushed themselves off from the wall and around the corner and Julie had no choice but to follow her two reckless friends.

“Hey!” Kira called, trying to get the White Ranger’s attention.

“I don’t have time to play, Rangers,” he replied, still looking directly at the egg. “I’m busy.” He whipped his quill sword out and swung it around, summoning the laser arrows. “Now go!”

Julie screamed as she was hit by the arrows and thrown back down against the chain link barrier behind them. She struggled to push herself back up.

“We’re not here to play,” Conner insisted.

“Oh, really?”

The three of them stood up. “Ready?” Conner asked.

“Ready,” the two girls replied. The tone of Kira’s voice was definitely stronger but it was louder than Julie’s and you couldn’t even hear the shake in her's.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

“Ready to get this poser?”

“Oh yeah!”

“As I’ll ever be.”

The three of them started to run towards where the White Ranger was and before Julie could even blink, the enemy became a blur and ran towards _them_ , slicing at them and stopping them in their tracks as they tried to defend themselves.

Julie should have asked to go with Dr. O and Ethan.

She was spun around like a toy as the White Ranger attacked and he was so fast that she couldn’t even attempt to do anything to stop him, she could only scream and try and predict where his blows would land which didn’t work at all.

Finally, he stopped and jumped, lifting both of his legs to kick Conner and Kira, who were on either side of Julie, back towards the chain link barricade they had broken earlier and she gulped as he walked up to her and placed a hand around her throat.

Julie tried to control her breathing as he lifted her up, higher and higher until her feet didn’t touch the floor and then he threw her towards her teammates. Conner and Kira had just started to get back up, but they weren’t expecting her to be thrown into them so they fell down again.

“Best two out of three?” the White Ranger asked.

“Okay, this is getting old,” Kira said as she, again, struggled to stand.

“No doubt,” Conner replied as he climbed to his feet, helping Julie up along the way.

“What can we do?” the Pink Ranger asked.

Instead of answering, Conner just threw up his fists and ran back towards the White Ranger.

“I’m calling the others,” Julie said, pushing the distress button on her morpher. She watched as Kira and Conner summoned their sabers and did the same, running back into the fight.

The White Ranger blocked all three of them at the same time. As the three pushed down with their sabers, the White Ranger looked like he was barely straining as he held them off. It proved to be correct as he gave one large push and all three went flying back. Julie’s saber escaped her hold and clattered along the dirty floor of the warehouse before disappearing into wherever it was their weapons went when they weren’t using them.

Kira’s communicator beeped and Hayley’s voice came out of it, _“Guys, we’ve got big trouble coming your way.”_

“Worse than this?” the Yellow Ranger asked as the warehouse started to shake. Julie anxiously looked up at the dirt and dust that was falling from the ceiling.

“Oh man, that’s all we need,” Conner sighed.

“We gotta get out of here,” Julie said. “Quickly.”

However, despite that, the White Ranger ran up on them. He sliced at Conner with his sword and knocked him into a pile of wooden boxes – the Red Ranger’s weight crushing them. He sliced at Kira and Julie in turn, knocking them back.

“Are you okay?” Conner asked.

Julie wondered if she could just continue to lay on the floor of the warehouse that she was so used to at this point and play dead.

“Just great,” she heard Kira say.

“I can say I’ve had worse,” Julie added. “We’re probably going to need a tetanus shot. Or ten.”

“This isn’t even a challenge,” the White Ranger goaded. “Take a hike before you really get hurt.”

Julie was fully prepared to get up and just leave, but Conner pushed himself to his feet by using both her and Kira’s shoulders.

“Not a chance!” he exclaimed.

“We’re not leaving here without that egg,” Kira said.

“We can stay here and fight,” the White Ranger started, “but I thought you wanted to save the city?”

Julie looked at the others as Kira said, “I hate to admit it, but he’s got a point.”

“It’s probably a big one,” Julie said. “A small monster couldn’t make a concrete warehouse shake like that.”

Conner nodded, “We’ll deal with him later. Let’s go.”

“Oh, thank god,” Julie said as he helped her to her feet one more time.

“Great idea!”

The three started to run back out of the warehouse, but Julie couldn’t help but overhear the White Ranger condescendingly say, “Good answer, Rangers. Leave me and my egg alone.”

 _“Go to the docks,”_ Hayley said. _“Ethan and Dr. O are there.”_

“Right!” Kira replied. The three Rangers nodded at each other before taking off, quickly dodging around the rubble of the warehouse to the exit and down towards the dock while the ground started to shake.

“There they are!” Julie said, pointing at their missing teammates. “Good timing, too.”

“We found that egg,” Conner said as they came to a stop. “The only problem is, so did the White Ranger. He’s trying to hatch it!”

“You guys stay here and deal with this thing,” Dr. Oliver said. “I’ll go deal with him.”

He and Ethan quickly morphed and, before he left, he clapped Conner on the shoulder and said, “The Zords are on their way,” and ran off.

“Ready?”

“Ready.”

Julie heard the BrachioZord before she saw it and was thankful at the feeling of her StegoZord getting closer. They watched from a distance as the BrachioZord opened up and all of their Zords popped out and started to run (or fly, in the PteraZord’s case) towards them.

The Pink Ranger jumped and locked herself into her cockpit as she heard the others do the same.

“Tyranno Power!”

“Tricera Power!”

“Ptera Power!”

“Stego Power!”

Her control panel started to glow and, in unison with the others, Julie shouted, “Thundersaurus MegaZord!” To bring them all together.

Unlike last time, when her StegoZord had been the surfboard they needed to take out the shark monster, it was back to being the sturdy legs of the main MegaZord and Julie spread her legs and bent her knees to give them their stability.

“Back in action!” she said, smiling for the first time since she had morphed.

“All right,” Conner started.

“MegaZord, online!” the other three finished.

The towering monster was honestly one of the more cohesive ones they had fought – it looked like an upside-down anchor with a crossbow and Julie could honestly see where the inspiration came from. It wasn’t splattered in pretty colors or flower and didn’t have miscellaneous car parts attached.

8/10.

“You think you got what it takes to drop the Angor?!” the monster yelled across the city at them.

 _“Hang in there guys,”_ Dr. Oliver said over the comms. _“I’ll check out the White Ranger.”_

They didn’t have time to reply as both the monster and the MegaZord approached each other. Whenever it swiped at them, they blocked it, but it unfortunately did the same.

“I’ve got you _Angored_!” the monster gloated.

“Do you think that’s its name?” Julie couldn’t help but ask. The monster grabbed a hold of them and slowly spun them around. “Take this!” she yelled, pushing a button so the legs of the MegaZord reached out and kicked the monster away.

“Firing lasers!” Kira said. To anyone else, it looked like the MegaZord was shooting lasers out of its eyes, but it was really from the lining around the windshield, so they’d still be able to see. The lasers hit the monster directly, knocking it further away from them.

“Tricera Punch!” Ethan called.

The MegaZord took one, two steps closer and speared the monster on the TriceraZord’s horns as Conner shouted, “Tyranno Tail!” and swiped at it from the other side.

“Ptera Rang!” Kira called as the MegaZord grabbed each half of it’s PteraZord breastplate and threw them at the monster.

“Now I’m _Angory_!” it shouted, knocking both Ptera Rangs away with its sword.

Julie was officially shocked as it jumped up high in the air and _stayed up there_ before it shouted, “Lasers!” and sent red laser bolts out of its crossbow arms, knocking into the Zord.

“Hold it steady!” Conner called to her as they all screamed in pain.

“I’ve got it!” Julie replied, sending soothing thoughts to Stella. However, it wasn’t enough and the MegaZord toppled over – landing on Main Street.

The monster then finally landed - directly onto them. The four Rangers let out screams of pain as it jumped on them again and again before yelling, “Body Slam!”

“I’ve got an idea!” Conner turned their Zord over so it laid on its back and Julie watched in horror as the giant monster came flying down at them. If it landed it would destroy them in ways the White Ranger only _wished_ he could.

“Fire breath now!” the Red Ranger called. The Tyrannosaur torso opened it’s mechanical jaws and let loose a torrent of fire right as the monster got within squishing range, blowing it back and knocking it to the ground.

The four looked at each other and nodded once they had managed to stand up.

“ParasaurZord!” Conner yelled.

“Attachment formation!”

Julie watched as the bright green ParasaurZord ran at them from the left. The Tyranno Tail fell off and the ParasaurZord became a giant, claw arm as it attached itself.

“Ya think that’s gonna stop me?!” Angor yelled, angorly as it pushed itself to its feet. It started to run towards them with its crossbow arm out, ready to hit them with it.

But they were ready.

The MegaZord lifted the ParasaurZord arm and clamped it around the offending limb and _sliced it_ , causing it to break off.

Immediately, they trapped the monster on either side of its rib cage with the ParasaurZord’s clamp and picked it up, throwing it to the side where it landed back on the ground.

“ParasaurZord, Final Cut!” the called as the monster stood back up.

Quicker than any eye could see, the ParasaurZord chopped away at the monster, snipping at it bit by bit until what little was left exploded.

“At least one thing went right,” Conner said. He lifted up his comm. “We’ve got the situation under control! How are you doing over there?”

 _“Got a little sidetracked,”_ their mentor and fellow Ranger replied. _“I’m heading back to the White Ranger now.”_

“Good luck!” Julie called. He was going to need it to deal with the evil Ranger.

“What is _that_?” Kira asked.

Julie looked out of the windshield and gulped, seeing another Biozord appear out of the wreckage of the warehouse and knew that the White Ranger’s egg had hatched.

“Whoa! What kind is that?” Ethan asked, in awe.

“A terrifying kind,” Julie replied. “It looks fast.”

“He must’ve hatched the Dinozord egg,” Kira said. “I don’t like the look of this.”

Julie watched as a small blur jumped onto the head of the opposing Zord.

“Hello again Rangers,” came the voice of the White Ranger. “Well? What do you think? If you’re gonna wear the suit, you gotta have the Zord, right?”

Julie stepped back with one foot, trying to decide if she could turn the entire MegaZord around to run, but was stopped by the others.

“What?” the White Ranger asked. “Don’t look so shocked. Now, let’s see what this bird can do.”

“Drago Zord, activate!”

They were sitting ducks.

“You guys ready for this?” Conner asked. Julie gulped.

“Huh?” Ethan asked, turning to him in shock.

“I guess so,” Kira said, her voice shaking.

“If I say no, can we go home?” Julie couldn’t help but ask, biting her lip. There was no way they could do it – they didn’t stand a chance while they were on the ground with the White Ranger, but now he would be in the sky?

“Let’s do it,” the White Ranger said with a finality that scared her.


	13. White Thunder Part 3

“You guys ready for this?” Conner asked. Julie gulped.

“Huh?” Ethan asked, turning to him in shock.

“I guess so,” Kira said, her voice shaking.

“If I say no, can we go home?” Julie couldn’t help but ask, biting her lip. There was no way they could do it – they didn’t stand a chance while they were on the ground with the White Ranger, but now he would be in the sky?

“Let’s do it,” the White Ranger said with a finality that scared her.

The two groups faced off against each other and Julie had to hold onto her console to keep from falling over. They were all staring resolutely forward, waiting for the White Ranger to make a move.

His one Zord was the size of their MegaZord, easily. It towered over the city and its wingspan was almost a mile wide. Its red eyes, matching the red visor of the White Ranger’s helmet, stared them down and Julie resisted the urge to shiver.

Then. “DragoZord, show these fools what you can do.”

“Brace yourselves,” Conner said, taking a deep breath.

The White Ranger hopped off the beak of his Zord and landed on a nearby roof as the DragoZord started to flap it’s wings, sending debris flying towards the Thundersaurus MegaZord. Shingles flew off rooftops, whole units on the tops of buildings went flying.

“Julie…”

“I’m doing what I can,” she replied to Ethan who stared at her, warningly. The Pink Ranger’s center of gravity was as low as she could physically make it, ready to try and withstand the force of the wind. “You guys deal with the debris if you can.”

The wind was getting stronger, Julie noticed as she took a step back when the MegaZord started to lean. Cars and telephone poles were being blown at them and she could see the nearby windows of business being blown out and she hoped that the civilians had run and hid as soon as the fighting started.

“Hey! No need to get crazy,” Conner goaded as he controlled the Tricera arm and the Parasaur Arm to defend against the projectiles.

The DragoZord continued to flap it’s giant, mechanical wings and trees were starting to be uprooted from the ground. If Julie paid closer attention, she could probably see that even the sidewalks were starting to come up.

California was meant for earthquakes, not hurricane force winds.

“Here we go,” Kira said as the DragoZord’s flapping finally took it into the air. “Brace yourselves guys.”

Julie resisted the urge to close her eyes as the Zord’s wing started to glow as it got closer to them. It seemed like the Zord took after it’s master in more ways than one.

It flew past them in a blur, sideswiping them quicker than they could see. Julie let out a cry as the MegaZord shook to the left, only for it to tilt dangerously to the right when the DragoZord did it again.

 _“Julie! Break off from the main MegaZord,”_ Dr. O said over their comms. _“I have an idea!”_

“Okay!” she replied. She turned to her teammates and nodded. “Good luck guys.”

“Stella! StegoZord out!”

The Pink Ranger jumped out of the combined cockpit of the MegaZord and watched as it reconfigured itself so that they TyrannoZord’s legs were the main source of support, just like it had done against their fight with the shark monster. Julie turned to Dr. O expectantly, waiting for instructions, only to hear the White Ranger.

“I was hoping you’d do that,” he said. The two Rangers on the ground turned to where the White Ranger was standing and saw him waving his sword and a purple energy around in the air. “StegoZord! You are under my command.”

“No!” Julie shouted as the purple beam of energy hit her Zord and turned it around, facing the MegaZord. She went to run forwards, but Dr. Oliver held her back as she screamed. “You can’t do that!”

“Your payments are late,” the White Ranger said. “This is a repossession.”

“Stella!”

 _“Julie! What’s going on?”_ Kira’s voice said over the comms.

Still keeping a tight arm around her, Dr. O replied, “He stole the StegoZord. It’s under his command now.”

Julie watched, tears dripping down her face under her helmet as the White Ranger jumped into the cockpit of his DragoZord and commanded it to fly and land on the back of _her_ StegoZord, lifting it high into the air before _dropping_ it and watching as it reformed into the torso of his own MegaZord.

“Give her back!” Julie shouted up at him. “She’s _mine_!”

“Not bad for a new guy, eh?” the White Ranger mocked, ignoring her completely.

The Dino Stegosaur MegaZord was a lot more intimidating than the Thundersaurus MegaZord. It had a lot more bulk due to the StegoZord itself, and it was way more armored because of the StegoZord’s armored plates.

“Man, he’s got his own MegaZord now,” Dr. Oliver said, his grip on her becoming slack. “This isn’t good.”

“What can we do?” Julie asked, urgently. “How can we get Stella back?”

Dr. Oliver didn’t answer, just stared in shock and awe at the two MegaZords facing off against each other.

The White Ranger’s MegaZord swung it’s sword once, hitting the Thundersaurus MegaZord, but when it swung again it was blocked by the Parasaur arm. The two MegaZords switched positions, the three colorful Rangers holding back its strike.

The Tricera Fist activated, hitting the White Ranger’s MegaZord in the stomach, knocking it back as the ParasaurZord arm fell off and was replaced by the Tyranno Drill arm that started to spin.

But the White Ranger did something, setting up its weapon and Julie let out a cry as it struck the MegaZord that had no time to dodge because of its own attack.

“Oh no!” Dr. Oliver cried.

The Thundersaurus MegaZord sparked, more than it had ever sparked before from being hit by the monsters of the week they had been fighting, until it literally _fell apart_. The three Zords went flying off one way while the Rangers inside flew towards them before landing hard on the ground.

“Brutal,” Kira said as Julie ran up to them.

“You’re telling me,” Ethan replied, trying to raise his body.

“Kira, Conner, Ethan!” Dr. Oliver said as he, too, ran up to them. Julie had kneeled down in between Conner and Kira and tried to help them up. “Are you guys all right?”

“Yeah,” Conner said, sitting up quickly and shaking her off. “But our Zords are seriously tweaked.” He turned to Julie. “What happened? How did he-“

“I don’t know!” she said, her voice raising. “I don’t have a read on her anymore! It’s like she’s officially gone.” Julie looked down at her Stego morpher. “He truly has her under his control I-“

“We can figure it out later,” Dr. Oliver said, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. She resisted the urge to shake, holding in her sobs. “That was just low.”

“Since when do they have bad Power Rangers?” Ethan asked.

 _“Now we’ll take the rest of the Zords,”_ they heard the White Ranger said.

Dr. Oliver ignored their gasps as he yelled back, “Not gonna happen!”

“What are you doing?” Kira asked urgently.

Julie watched as he pushed a couple of buttons on his morpher before turning to her, “Try and call the StegoZord away.”

“But-“

“It should work this time!”

The three others looked at her and Julie gulped before closing her eyes. A bolt of energy went through her arm from where her morpher rested and she clenched her jaw and tried to reach the mindspace she shared with her precious Zord.

“I got her!” she said, looking up eagerly as the White Ranger’s MegaZord started to dissemble itself.

“Good job!” Conner called.

“You did it!” Kira added, clapping her shoulders excitedly.

Julie felt her heart soar as if Stella was saying “Thank you” as the StegoZord walked away.

“You’ll pay for that,” the White Ranger threatened before flying away.

“Good save Dr. O!” Ethan said, elbowing their teacher. Julie looked at him, confused, but he didn’t continue.

Dr. Oliver shrugged. “Don’t thank me, I doubt it will last,” he turned to her and said, sadly, “the White Ranger’s power over the StegoZord is too strong.”

“What does that mean for me,” Julie questioned, stepping forward and watching where Stella had disappeared back into her compartment on the BrachioZord.

“It just means we have to be careful,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “It looks like he’s gone for now – let’s go rest up.”

* * *

Julie sat morosely in the corner of the lab, her knees pulled up to her chest. The others had, thankfully, ignored the dried tear marks on her cheeks that had mixed with the dust and dirt from all of the fighting. Kira kept looking at her sadly but stayed across the room with the others.

She had lost her _Zord_. The first thing that had made her actually excited about being a Ranger. From the very first moment when she tamed the StegoZord, Julie had been intrinsically connected with the Biozord. Even when she wasn’t morphed, the being was in the back of her head.

It stabilized her, made her grounded.

Even though they had her back, for now, Julie still felt adrift. The mental connection she and her Zord had was tattered. Stella’s grounding force came through broken, like a phone signal losing connection and Julie anxiously sat, thinking, about how she could possibly fix it.

“That was officially the worst day ever,” she overheard Conner say. She absently nodded.

“It was brutal,” Ethan replied.

“There’s gonna be a lot of days like this, guys,” Dr. Oliver said. He walked over and placed a strong hand on Julie’s shoulder, squeezing it tightly.

“Uh, whatever happened to ‘the glass is half-full?’” Kira asked.

Dr. Oliver sighed. “Sometimes its not,” he explained. “Sometimes its empty, but that’s when you gotta dig deep.” Julie shuddered. “That’s when the qualities that made you guys Rangers become most important.”

Conner rubbed his hands down his face before sitting up and looking directly at their teacher and teammate. “You’re right, but what can we do?”

“Go have a little fun,” Dr. Oliver suggested. Julie gaped up at him. “Ethan, isn’t there a new video game you want to check out?”

“I never thought I’d hear myself say this,” the Blue Ranger started, “but I have no desire to go near a computer.”

“I know what you mean,” Kira added. “I haven’t picked up my guitar in days.”

“Go on, teacher’s orders,” Dr. Oliver said. The four Rangers looked up at him, blearily. “Go on, seriously.”

The four looked at each other before standing and walked past him and up the stairs. Before the secret door shut, Julie overheard him say, “Enjoy yourselves now ‘cause this is only going to get worse.”

* * *

The Pink Ranger had her skates laced up, but instead of going out onto the ice she sat in the stands on the side, staring forward but not really present.

She didn’t know what to do.

The chilly, stale air from the rink cradled her in its familiar hold as she sat and stared, halfway paying attention to the beginner’s class on the ice. Occasionally she would break away from whatever thought she had regarding her StegoZord or the White Ranger when a kid would fall and let out a scream, but for the most part she was in her own little world.

“Julie!” she heard her coach call as two kids fell at once. “Come over here and give me a hand.”

Julie shook her head and tried to clear away her thoughts, putting some semblance of a smile on her face and skated onto the rink and over to the class.

“Guys, this is Miss Julie,” Coach Theresa introduced. “You might’ve seen her if you come to the morning class occasionally since she trains really early in the morning. She’s a pro.”

“I wouldn’t say-“ Julie tried to reply, but was quickly interrupted.

“Is it true you went to the Olympics?” one of the kids asked that had fallen on the ground. It was a little girl with her hair in braided pigtails and a gap in her front teeth. She was staring up at her in awe.

“You went to the Olympics?!”

“Do you have a medal?”

“Did you win?”

“How do you skate so well?”

“I saw the jump you did a couple of days ago that was so cool!”

Julie started to stammer as she looked back and forth from her coach, who had a smug smile on her face, and the small herd of children that were eagerly asking her questions. They had all, slowly, skated over to her and were surrounding her. The little girl from before had a hold of her arm to hold herself up.

“What do you guys say we ask Miss Julie nicely if she wants to take over the class for the day,” Coach Theresa suggested.

Julie’s head _swung_ around to the woman to try and refute it, but the children started screaming and cheering excitedly, jumping around and falling and getting back up again just to fall again. She looked over at her coach who was smiling indulgently at her and, when the older woman nodded, Julie turned back to the children.

She sighed, but put a small smile on her face, “Okay guys, what were we working on?”

* * *

It was almost a fully different Julie who walked into the lab a couple of hours later, her cheeks still pink from the cold air of the ice and the air conditioning from the car.

The kids were really sweet, once they stopped asking the thousands of questions that they had. She had taught them how to skate backwards and get up, correctly, from falling and they had eaten up every single word from her.

Coach Theresa had sat on the sidelines the entire time with a big smile on her face as she watched the class.

“You did a great job out there,” the woman had said once the kids were leaving, all giving her hugs. “Those kids really look up to you.”

Julie had shrugged, “It was different,” she had said. “But a nice different. Thank you, I really needed that.”

Her coach had patted her kindly on the shoulder, “I could tell. See you tomorrow morning!”

As she walked into the lab, she saw Kira, Ethan, and Dr. Oliver sitting at the computer and walked over to them.

“Any luck?” she asked the other two teenaged Rangers. Kira shrugged in reply.

“Couldn’t focus,” Ethan said, staring forward. “Looks like you didn’t have that problem though.”

Julie frowned and she could see Kira turn and look at Ethan with the same look.

“What exactly is your problem?” Julie asked, suddenly. Dr. Oliver looked up from the monitor to look at her at this point, but Ethan still stared forward. “You’ve been treating me like dirt all day. What’s the issue?”

“You’re not a good Ranger,” Ethan finally said after a minute. “You’re scared all the time, you don’t put as much effort into training as the rest of us, you don’t _do_ as much as the rest of us because you’re so _busy_ and when you do stuff, your Zord gets stolen, but then you go out and it’s like nothing happened while the rest of us are trying to figure out what to do _you’re_ off playing Ice Princess.”

Julie stared in shocked silence at the Blue Ranger as she felt a bubble rise in her throat. She watched as Kira smacked the other boy on the shoulder.

“Is that… is that what you really think?” she asked, her voice thick with repressed tears and confusion. Julie reached out to grab onto her friend’s shirtsleeve, but he only jerked his arm out of the way. “Ethan, seriously? Do you honestly think I’m not a good Ranger?”

The only reply she got was a small nod and she went to open her mouth to try and explain herself as the computer started beeping.

Julie turned, shaking, and watched as an explosion showed up on the screen and the familiar enemy of Angor appeared.

“This will have to wait,” Dr. Oliver said. “Hope Conner isn’t having too much fun.”

“What like we are?” Julie couldn’t help but say as the communicator started beeping.

The computer monitor flipped over from the third-story monster to Conner, laying morphed on the ground somewhere.

“Hey, Dr. O,” he said. “I’m in trouble here.”

He then rolled away as the familiar boot of the White Ranger stomped down, trying to hit him.

“Hang on Conner! I’m sending some back up,” Dr. Oliver replied.

“I’m on it,” Ethan immediately volunteered.

“Julie, you go with him,” their mentor directed. Both started to argue, but at a look from Dr. O they quieted.

Dr. O nodded. “Okay, Kira, looks like we’re gonna have to deal with this guy ourselves.”

Julie nodded and the four of them walked away from the computers to morph, Ethan literally going out of his way to stand on the opposite side from Julie and she felt her palms started to burn as she stamped down on the hurt.

“Let’s do it!” Dr. O commanded.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

Ethan and Julie took off on their Raptor Cycles to the coordinates where Conner called for help while the other two headed towards the monster downtown.

As they rode through the city, Julie couldn’t resist looking over at the boy who she considered her first friend in Reefside, who apparently didn’t think the same, and wondering where it all went wrong, but Ethan kept staring stubbornly forward as if pretending she wasn't there would really make her not there.

Finally, Julie sighed and revved her bike, pulling in front of the Blue Ranger.

She was too scared, was she?

The Pink Ranger was the first through the tunnel in the warehouse district and, before she could blink, she pulled through it only for something to land on the bike behind her, groaning.

“What?! Get off!” she called. She tried to look around and see, but only caught a glimpse of the familiar hands of a Tyranno Drone and started swerving trying to shake it off, especially when she saw Ethan had acquired a similar passenger.

“Look!” Ethan called. Julie looked up and saw a swarm of at least twelve of the drones. “This must be your stop!” Ethan said to the Drone on his bike, swerving to a stop and his passenger flying off.

Julie had a different idea and started to go faster, ready to dive straight through, only to jump and roll off of her bike as it got close. She watched as it immediately started to spin around and throw her passenger off, knocking down three of the Drones that had surrounded it.

She quickly ran back over to her bike that was on its side and climbed back on as Ethan blasted at the gathered Drones before driving right past them as they fell over.

“Good job!” she said as she pulled up next to him. He nodded, but still didn’t say anything.

Julie thought about just turning and cutting him off or even wrecking into his bike to get him to stop and _talk_ to her, at least let her explain herself for something she didn’t even know was an issue, but they needed to go help Connor so the confrontation could wait.

The familiar sites of the city quickly turned to dense forest that quickly turned to the rocky quarry where a green Invisiportal appeared in the sky.

“There he is!” Julie called, seeing Conner, battered, and lying on the ground holding his side.

“Hey Conner!” Ethan yelled, driving up. The two Rangers skidded to a stop and immediately ran over to their friend.

“Julie? Ethan?”

They each grabbed an arm and hoisted the Red Ranger up as Ethan asked, “Are you okay?”

“I think so,” Conner said, wobbling. He held a hand to his helmet. “Just so you know, good guys? Do not wear White.”

“What was that portal?” Julie asked.

Conner straightened up. “It was Mesogog and Zeltrax. They tried to offer the White Ranger a deal, but he took off.”

“Wait, so they’re not working together?” Ethan asked, confused.

“I guess not.”

Julie, who had been focused on her friend, felt her connection with Stella break once more and let out a scream.

“He has the StegoZord,” she said. “I don’t feel her anymore!”

“Again?” Conner asked. “I thought Dr. O broke the connection?”

She shook her head. “It was only temporarily. It’s been like a staticky phone line all day with Stella, I couldn’t read her at all.”

“And now its gone again,” Ethan said with a sigh. “Of course.”

“Of course, what Ethan?” Julie yelled, standing with her hands on her hips. “Of course, _my_ Zord would get stolen, right? Because I’m such a bad Ranger? Because I don’t, what was it that you said, oh yeah – because I don’t _care_ enough? Not like you?”

“Woah,” Conner said, stepping in front of her and putting a hand against her chest to hold her back. “I’m sure he didn’t mean it like that.”

The Pink Ranger threw his hand off. “Oh yes he did,” she replied. “Before you sent out the distress call he told me every way I was a bad Ranger in the lab, didn’t you Ethan? How I’m so _scared_ all the time and I listen to our mentor when he tells us to leave and how it’s obviously my fault that _my_ Zord got stolen – not like we’re against an enemy that we have no base knowledge on who grabbed the first unattached Zord he saw.”

She took a breath, “But no, because for some reason you seem to think that everything happening is my fault because I don’t care enough, right? Because I do too many other things to possibly put all of my time into being a Ranger. News flash, _Ethan_ , I have a _right_ to be scared. I have a right to a life. I have _never_ not come running whenever someone needed help or there was an issue. I’ve been terrified, but I’ve still fought my hardest in _every single_ fight, because I know what happens when I don’t, you know why?”

Conner stared between the two of them in shock, but Ethan just crossed his arms.

“My brother WAS a Ranger,” she yelled, her voice echoing through the quarry. “Or did you forget? Ever since he found out, I’ve gotten horror story upon horror story from him and all of his past Ranger friends about what could go wrong and what _has_ gone wrong. Did you know that Justin has spent the past three years trying to repair his Zord after it was destroyed? Or that Kat still goes to therapy from the week she was evil and tried to kill everyone almost a decade ago? No, of course you don’t because you only think about yourself.”

“Cool it, Julie,” Conner said, once again stepping forward. “He gets the point. Ethan was wrong, right?” The other boy stayed silent. “Right?”

“You’re leaving,” Ethan finally said after a few more moments of silence. “I overheard you talking to Dr. O. You’re leaving.”

Julie gaped at him, confused. Then it hit her.

“I’m going to Germany for four days in a week,” she finally replied. “I was telling Dr. Oliver so he could get in touch with the Astro Rangers to set up a teleportation lock on for me just in case something happens and I need to come back.”

“You shouldn’t even be leaving in the first place!” Ethan yelled at her. “We have a job to do and-“

“Figure skating is my job too!” she yelled back.

“Guys, stop fighting,” Conner commanded. “The White Ranger is fighting a monster.”

Julie turned, angry, to look up and saw that the White Ranger had in fact stolen her Zord again and formed his MegaZord. She turned to her morpher and saw that the light that was in the eyes of the Stegosaurus head was dim.

“Hey,” Kira said as she ran up to them.

“We got here as soon as we could,” Dr. O added, standing on the opposite side.

“Thanks,” Conner said, nodding, before the five of them all looked up at the ongoing fight where Angor had wrapped the White Ranger’s MegaZord in chains.

Julie watched in stunned silence, her heart still beating fast from her yelling at Ethan as the Dino StegoZord MegaZord burst into a bright light and it broke free of the chains.

“It’s so strong,” Kira muttered.

“What’s it doing now?” Ethan asked.

The MegaZord swung the Stego Tail around, uprooting a bunch of nearby trees out of the ground and throwing them around from the force of it before jumping up and spinning, the armored plates of the StegoZord becoming a saw blade that sliced into Angor.

“Did you know it could do that?” Conner asked quietly, leaning over. Julie just shook her head.

Then, the MegaZord emitted a strong, blue laser beam that swept across the ground, destroying everything in its path before it hit Angor.

“Woah that’s gotta hurt,” Conner said wincing.

The laser blast continued to hit the monster until it exploded, sending brilliant lights across the late after sky. The sparks that came from it sparked a fire in what remained of the trees that weren’t destroyed by the laser.

* * *

“I don’t get it,” Kira said once they got back to the lab, frustrated. “One minute, the White Ranger’s fighting us. Then the next, he’s blowing up Mesogog’s freak.”

“Whoever he is,” Ethan started. “He could definitely use an anger management course.”

“Or therapy,” Julie added, crossing her arms and holding them tight. Ethan looked over at her and then looked away.

She opened her mouth to say something, maybe to even go in on him again, but Conner put a hand on her shoulder and spoke instead.

“Hey Dr. O, what was with the whole Super Dino Power thing?” he asked.

Dr. Oliver stepped down from the platform where the computer monitors were and walked over to them. Julie could see an image that, she assumed, was supposed to represent Connor and the energy waves he put off when he went into his Super Dino Power mode thing that had allowed him to resist the blasts from a blaster _and_ knock the White Ranger down – which was more than they had ever been able to do.

“You guys have only begun to access your full potential,” Dr. Oliver said.

“I like the sound of that,” Ethan admitted, a smile on his face.

“I’m gonna head back to the warehouse and get that fossil finder we left,” Conner offered.

Julie nodded at him, “I’ll go with you.”

“No,” Dr. O interrupted them. “You guys head home and get some rest. I’ll get the fossil finder.” He then turned to Julie. “Do you want to tell them?”

The three other Rangers looked at her, Kira confused but Conner and Ethan with a more direct look. She took a deep breath and nodded.

“Since Ethan overheard a _private conversation_ with Dr. Oliver,” the Pink Ranger said. “In a week I will be gone for four days for a skating competition in Germany.”

“You’re leaving?” Kira asked.

“See? I told you,” Ethan said.

Julie held up her hand silence them. “If you think that I would leave you guys down a Ranger, you’re wrong. I talked to Dr. O about it first before bringing it up with you guys because I wanted to make a back up plan in case something happened while I was away.”

“And did you?” Conner asked.

She nodded. “For those four days, the Astro Rangers will be in Earth’s orbit monitoring the situation. If it gets bad enough, they will teleport me from wherever I am in the world to you guys to help. That’s Plan A.”

“Plan A?” Kira asked. “How many plans are there?”

“Honestly, I got all the way to M before Dr. O told me to relax,” she admitted with a shrug. “We all know I’m a planner. Plan B was for Kat, who still has access to her Zeo Powers, to step in as a fifth Ranger for those four days.”

She turned to Ethan. “The fact that you thought I would abandon the team with no backup for that seriously hurts. You guys are my friends, I wouldn’t leave you in the ditch.”

“Why are you even going anyway?” the Blue Ranger asked. “It’s just a competition.”

“It’s the first time in a competition since your accident, isn’t it?” Hayley said from over by the monitors. The other three teenaged Rangers looked from Hayley to Julie, confused.

“Accident?” Kira asked. “I always thought it wasn’t anything bad. You mentioned it, occasionally, but never any specifics.”

“Two weeks after I got back from the Olympics, I hurt myself so bad that I had to have five major surgeries and six months of physical therapy to even be able to walk,” Julie admitted. “The video is gruesome, or I would suggest you see it to know what exactly happened, but this is something I _need_ to do.” She sighed.

“But if anything were to happen, I would be back here in a heartbeat, okay?” She finished, looking over at Ethan.

The two made eye contact and the Blue Ranger nodded. Julie let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding.

“Now go on,” Dr. Oliver said, a proud smile on his face. “Get out of here, go get food or something.”

The four Rangers nodded, agreeing and turned around to leave. Kira and Julie linked arms while Ethan patted the Pink Ranger on the back. Her face hurt from her smile.

“I still don’t know if Trent’s all right,” Conner admitted as they were climbing out of the lab. “I left a message, but he hasn’t replied.”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Kira said. “Trent probably just needs to rest.”

“He overworks himself almost as much as I do,” Julie added.


	14. Truth and Consequences

“Is he okay?”

Julie bit her lip as she stared at the form of their teacher and mentor literally incased in a human-sized block of amber as Hayley ran a scanner over it multiple times. Someone should’ve gone with him to retrieve the scanner they had left at the warehouse, maybe then this wouldn't have happened.

“This internal scan should be able to tell us more,” Hayley responded, resigned. The older woman didn’t outwardly seem very worried, but Julie knew her enough at this point that she could see the stress in her body from how stiffly she was holding herself.

“What’s the deal?” Kira asked. “Is he frozen or something?”

“Not exactly,” Hayley sighed. “It’s more like he’s fossilized, fused into this amber-like substance.”

“I knew he liked dinosaurs, but this is taking it to a whole new level,” Julie said, staring at the still form of Dr. Oliver. Was he okay in there?

Conner crossed his arms and she could see the tension in his shoulders. “Can you get him out?”

Hayley shook her head. “Too risky. He’s able to stay alive in there, but I’d hate to think what would happen if I broke him out.”

“A paleontologist turned into a fossil,” Ethan said. “The White Ranger’s got a great sense of humor.”

“Well personally I’ve had enough of him,” Kira said.

Conner nodded, “Let’s find out who this guy is and deal with him. Now.”

“But what are we going to do about Dr. O?” Julie asked. “We can’t just, I don’t know, leave him like this?”

“He should be fine,” Hayley explained, placing a hand on her shoulder. “And, as of right now, there’s nothing we _can_ do.”

“So, we just find the White Ranger and make him to fix it!” Ethan said.

 _‘That hasn’t exactly gone their way before,’_ Julie couldn’t help but think, but she kept her thoughts quiet. Everyone worried in their own ways.

* * *

Hayley had to leave the lab and Dr. Oliver to go to work, so the teenagers decided they would try and figure out where and who exactly the White Ranger was.

“We’re getting nowhere,” Julie said as they walked through the warehouse where Dr. Oliver was frozen. Ethan had suggested to backtrack to all of the spots any of them had every fought the White Ranger to try and find some clues to his identity and, while it as a great idea in theory, they hadn’t had any luck.

“Maybe we need to go to where there are a lot of people,” Kira suggested. “Didn’t Dr. O try and blend in with everyone else when he was an evil Ranger? That might be what he’s doing.”

“Yeah!” Conner said. “We just have to look for anyone acting strange.”

“Easier said than done,” Ethan added, but agreed.

The four climbed into Conner’s small car and rode around town for a couple of hours, but still didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Reefside looked exactly the same as it always did, minus the part of the city that had been destroyed during the White Ranger’s Zord battle. Even then, the construction crews were working quickly and effectively and nothing looked out of the ordinary.

“Maybe Hayley’s got some ideas,” Ethan suggested as they walked into Cyberspace, defeated. Julie was almost tempted to call Justin and ask if he knew what to do, but then that would mean explaining the fact that her brother’s old teammate was now a fossil and they had decided to keep that on the down low for now.

“Yeah, but it looks like she’s kinda busy right now,” Kira said as she looked around the café that was absolutely packed with people. Hayley, herself, was behind the counter and didn’t even look up to see who had just walked in she was so busy.

“Well, let’s hit the streets again,” Conner said. “We might’ve missed something. It’s not like the White Ranger’s just going to walk in here.”

Suddenly, Trent pushed between Conner and Kira and Julie rose her eyebrows in concern. He still didn’t look good.

“Hey Trent,” Kira said, hopeful.

“Hey,” the other boy replied, not even making eye contact as he continued through the crowd. Julie placed a hand on the other girl’s shoulder. She couldn’t believe that she had almost forgotten the crush the Yellow Ranger had on their classmate.

It must be killing her to see him like this.

The four of them leaned up against the counter where Hayley was working, waiting for the older woman to maybe get some time in between customers to give them any kind of idea on what to go on.

“Grab a tray,” Julie heard Hayley say to Trent.

“I can’t, I’m quitting,” the boy replied.

The four Rangers turned to him, gobsmacked. Julie’s jaw actually dropped.

“Why?” Hayley asked, scoffing. “In trouble with your dad again?”

She didn’t hear anything else he said as he followed Hayley back and forth as she tried to serve all of the customers until he came to a stop next to them again and said, “I’m sorry” before walking away.

Kira got up to follow him and Julie slid into the girl’s vacated seat.

“Is he okay?” she asked. “Quitting? That’s not a very Trent-like thing to do.”

“For real,” Ethan said. “I mean, I know his dad’s kind of psycho, and has tried to make him quit before but this?”

Julie chewed on her lip in thought, but dismissed it quickly. There was no chance, right? She could definitely see that Trent’s personality had changed drastically in such a short amount of time, but she could have _sworn_ that she had seen Trent during one of their fights with the White Ranger.

Right?

She shook the thoughts aside, placing them on the back burner. It wasn’t even a complete thought and they had other things to worry about.

Mainly, finding the actual White Ranger and getting him to free Dr. Oliver.

“Excuse me! Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the scoop of the century!”

Julie groaned and almost slammed her head down on the countertop as Cassidy strolled into the café. Ethan laughed and patted her on the back.

“Come on, your favorite person requests an audience,” he said, standing up. Conner followed his example and Julie felt like she had no choice but to follow.

“I know better reporters who have more talent in their pinky finger than she does in her entire body,” Julie said, standing in between the two boys with her arms crossed.

“Shush,” Conner said, elbowing her.

Cassidy, at that point, cleared the girls who were sitting on the stage off and climbed up onto it. She stepped up to the mic and Julie cringed at the reverb.

“-And as my faithful core audience, I wanted to share it with you guys first,” the bubbly girl said.

“What do you think this is about?” Ethan asked, a grin on his face.

“It could honestly be anything,” Julie replied. “Maybe Randall is a hero again?”

“Maybe she’s decided to run for Queen?” Kira said, as she and Trent wandered over to them.

Julie snorted as Cassidy continued, “I have uncovered the identity of the one and only White Ranger. And any minute now, my assistant Devin is going to come through that door with videotape evidence!”

The Rangers all looked at each other in shock. There was no way, right? How could Cassidy have done what they couldn’t?

“You don’t think…” Conner started. Julie scoffed in reply.

“No way,” she said. “There’s seriously no way. I mean, first of all, how?”

“But what if she’s right?” Ethan asked. “Devin does always have his camera.”

They all turned towards the red double doors, waiting for Devin to walk in because clearly Cassidy had cued him, but they didn’t open.

“Any minute,” the girl on stage said. Julie felt her heartrate calm down.

Of course, they didn’t have any evidence.

The crowd had literally all stopped what they were doing and were now looking back and forth between Cassidy and the door, in silence, until a disheveled Devin burst through the door.

“Oh, oh Cass! I’m here!” he said, running towards her. “Sorry I’m late!”

He pushed through the crowd and climbed up on stage with her and Julie grabbed both of the boys tightly by the elbow. This was either going to solve all of their problems or be completely embarrassing for the other girl and the Pink Ranger didn’t know which one she wanted more.

“This’ll be good,” Conner muttered to her.

“Devin, where’s your camera?” Cassidy said, a little away from the mic but it still managed to carry through the crowded space.

Devin smiled and waved to the crowd before turning to Cassidy with a frown and saying something that nobody could hear, despite Julie stressing her hearing.

“-Only if you don’t have it.”

“We’re waiting!” Julie called as Devin leaned to whisper something in the girl’s ear. Ethan elbowed her. “What? She said she had what the people wanted. I'm a people and I want it.”

Cassidy sighed as soon as Devin finished talking and turned back to the mic, the peppiness in her voice now seemed forced.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” she started. “It appears that the White Ranger is….”

Julie and the others exchanged looks, Ethan’s jaw dropping.

“Taped on a camera that Devin stupidly loaned his sister,” the crowd groaned in unison and turned away from here and Julie couldn’t help but let out a laugh, blocking out the rest of what she said.

“See? There was no way,” she said. “Something _wacky_ is going to happen and we’ll later find out that his sister taped over the footage of the White Ranger or something and we’ll be back at square one.”

“You do seem to have her pegged really well, huh?” Conner asked, a smirk on his face. Julie laughed.

“She’s like a cartoon character,” she said.

“Hey, did you guys see where Trent went?” Kira asked. “He was going to tell me something but disappeared.”

“Nah, we were too busy listening to Julie make fun of Cassidy,” Ethan said.

“Sorry Kira,” she said, shrugging. She went to open her mouth to say something else, but their communicators beeped.

“You don’t think…”

The Blue Ranger shook his head. “No, there’s no way. Hayley wrote a program to send out an alert whenever the White Ranger’s energy signature was tracked to somewhere in town. Dr. O should still be in amber.”

Julie sighed but followed the others out to track down the elusive White Ranger. They needed their fifth Ranger back.

* * *

“Hold it right there!” Conner yelled as they rode up on their Raptor Cycles to see an honestly terrifying scene in front of them. The White Ranger was fighting both Elsa and Zeltrax and, seemingly, getting the upper hand.

This wasn’t good.

“Great, that’s all we need,” Elsa lamented. The four ignored her and climbed off their bikes and ran over to the action.

“Whoa,” Ethan said. “Whose side do we take?”

“The less evil side?” Julie suggested.

“Which one’s ‘less?’” Kira asked.

“Good question,” Conner said, confused.

Elsa scoffed. “We’ll make it easy for you!” The White Ranger moved towards both of Mesogog’s goons like he was about to attack them, but the woman lifted her sword into the air and disappeared into an Invisiportal.

Leaving the White Ranger’s attention focused exclusively on them.

“If you had any sense, you’d run too,” the evil Ranger said, pointing his sword at them.

“Dream on,” Kira said, pointing at him. Julie quietly sighed but got into fighting position.

Of course, they didn’t have any sense.

“Let’s do it!” Conner ordered, summoning his saber. Julie and the others summoned their main weapons and jumped into the fray.

Conner’s strikes didn’t do much – the White Ranger blocked both of his hits and then slashed at him, knocking him away. Kira jumped in with her Ptera Grips and, when she went to hit him, he used his sword to block _both_ at the same time and pushed her up against a nearby wall.

“Had enough?” he asked.

“Hardly,” Kira replied. Julie’s jaw then dropped as she yelled, “Super Dino Mode!” and transformed.

The white diamonds along the seams of the uniform hardened and grew, becoming actual armor and little spikes grew on the back of the Yellow Ranger’s boots. She also had fabric appear underneath her arms, connecting to her sides like wings.

Nothing could stop her then.

She sliced out at the White Ranger knocking him back. He rolled on the ground for a bit before standing, immediately on the defensive, but Kira wasted no time and jumped up, _flying_.

“Did we know she could do that?” Julie asked, helping Conner up. The Red Ranger shook his head.

“I didn’t get wings when I went Super Dino Mode,” he said. “So not fair.”

“T-rex’s don’t have wings,” Ethan added.

Kira, still flying, latched her feet to the shoulders of the White Ranger and dragged him across the empty lot they had found him in, just high enough off the ground that he was kicking the air trying to wiggle out.

She lost her grip on him after running him into a chain-link fence and Julie cheered as fell and landed hard on the ground.

“You’ll pay for that!” he yelled.

The Yellow Ranger had turned around and started flying back at him, but he summoned his laser arrows and fired them at her, knocking her out of the sky.

She lost her Super Dino Mode as she fell to the ground and the other three jumped in front of her.

“Lasers, fire!” they shouted, pulling their blasters out of their belt.

Julie didn’t know how, but instead of literally _any_ of their hits landing, the White Ranger knocked all of their blasts _back_ at them which sent them flying.

“That’s enough,” Kira said, forcing herself to her feet. She ran towards the White Ranger who only blocked her hits before holding her so that her arm was twisted behind her.

“You’re a little out of your league, don’t you think?” he asked. He sent her flying, Kira landing on the ground ten feet away from him. “See my point?”

He summoned his laser arrows again and Julie let out a scream as the full force of the attack was focused on Kira who was thrown forward into the air by the blows as they hit her and landed behind her.

When she hit the ground, she demorphed.

“You’ll pay for that!” Julie yelled at him, leading the boys into an attack. She went to kick him, but he grabbed her leg and knocked it away before slicing her with his sword and she fell to the ground.

“I never did like the color yellow,” the White Ranger said once he had easily dealt with both Conner and Ethan. He stalked towards Kira’s defenseless, unmorphed form and bent down. Julie couldn’t hear what he said to her, but he quickly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up into a sitting position, his fist raised in the air.

And then he stopped.

“Kira?” Julie heard him say and she quickly pulled herself to her feet as the White Ranger stepped away, clutching his helmet.

“You ready?” Conner asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Ethan replied, cracking his knuckles.

“He asked for it,” Julie added. Maybe they had a chance since he was distracted.

“Super Dino Mode!” the three yelled.

Julie felt pure _Power_ surge through her body, and she reveled in the feeling. Just like Kira, the white diamonds on the seams of her suit hardened and grew, turning from diamond shaped to look like the plates on the Stegosaurus’ back, fully covering her in armor.

When she finished transforming, she didn’t even glance at the boys before jumping into the fight – feeling safer than she had ever felt.

The three morphed Rangers knocked the White Ranger away from Kira and engaged him in a fight that he definitely wasn’t prepared for, but Julie didn’t look the gift horse in the mouth.

Conner kicked and knocked him away while Ethan got a running start and jumped off a bunch of shipping crates and crashed down into him, his shoulder spikes larger than all of theirs combined. When the Blue Ranger moved out of the way, Julie charged at the White Ranger, lowering her head and running straight into him and knocked him about ten feet back.

Conner jumped off a large, metal container and twisted in mid-air, kicking the White Ranger and slicing at him with the spikes on the back of his boot and causing his suit to start sparking, which Julie knew was the end of the fight.

The White Ranger fell to the ground and the three Rangers in Super Dino Mode glowed their respective colors and their additions faded away.

“I’ll be back,” the White Ranger said, struggling to his feet. He turned around and ran off, jumping onto the nearby building and running away.

“Power Down,” Conner said, Ethan and Julie following his example. The Pink Ranger, however, couldn’t help but jump up and down with a bright grin on his face.

“Did we just beat him?” she asked, excited. “Was that, literally, something that just happened?”

The three ran over to Kira who was still on the ground and helped her struggled to her feet.

“Are you okay?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah,” the Yellow Ranger said. “I’ll be fine.” She stepped forward, wobbling slightly and looked to where the White Ranger disappeared in silence.

Something had happened when the White Ranger had gone over to her, Julie realized, and she didn’t know if it was good or not.

* * *

“You’re kidding me,” Julie said, staring gobsmacked at Kira who just dropped the bomb to end all bombs.

“Trent? Oh, there’s no way,” Ethan said.

Hayley was just staring blankly ahead, occasionally glancing over at the fossilized form of Dr. Oliver while Conner was angrily pacing back and forth.

Julie honestly didn’t know what to think.

“Nice,” Conner said, practically spitting he was so angry. “Pretending to be our friend one minute, and then kicking our butts the next.” He ran both hands through his hair and let out an angry sigh. “I can’t _believe_ I fell for it.”

“I told you he can’t help it!” Kira argued, defending Trent. “The Gem is too powerful.”

“It doesn’t look good, Kira,” Julie said, crossing her arms.

“Yeah, stop defending him,” Conner added, turning away.

Julie could see that the Yellow Ranger was about to flip but she didn’t know how she could salvage this situation. Was this what the original Rangers felt like when they found out Dr. O was the evil Green Ranger? Or when they found out that it was Kat that stole the Pink Power Coin?

And everything worked out with them, right? But this? This just seemed way too much to handle.

“I’m with Conner on this one,” Ethan said, speaking up. “I mean, look at what he did to Dr. O!”

Kira turned and followed where Ethan was pointing to look at their fossilized teammate before turning to Hayley, speaking directly to her for the first time.

“Hayley, he needs our help,” she pleaded. “Surely there’s-“

“I don’t know if there’s anything I _can_ do,” the red headed woman finally said, shaking herself out of a stupor. “But I’ll try.”

“Hey, don’t go without us,” Conner said, grabbing her arm as she went to turn and walk out. “I got some stuff I’d like to say to that guy.”

“No doubt,” Ethan replied before following them out.

As everyone started to leave the basement, Julie bit her lip and looking back at their mentor and teammate. She could stay here, monitor the town cameras-

“I know the White Ranger scares you,” Conner said, coming back down to get her. “But it’s just Trent, we can take him.”

She shook her head, “But we’ve only managed to beat him _once_ and we were in Super Dino Mode _and_ he had just had a realization that Kira was Kira and the evil gem’s Power was starting to break.” Julie took a deep breath.

The Red Ranger placed a hand on her shoulder, “Okay, then we’ll just have to figure out a new way, but Jules, we can do it. I promise.”

The Pink Ranger sighed before nodding. A bright smile spread across Conner’s face.

“Now come on, it’s really creepy down here with just Dr. O.”

* * *

Thankfully, Kira had said that she had left Trent not far from the lab and they ran the entire way there. Hayley had even managed to mostly keep up with them in an exhibition of her willpower to fix this thing and get Dr. Oliver back to normal.

However, the bench where Kira said she had found him was empty.

“No! He was supposed to wait right here!” she said.

The Yellow Ranger ran up to it and picked up the White Ranger’s (now _that_ was hard to get used to thinking) sketchbook, looking at it as if it would give her all the answers as to where he went.

“There’s a surprise,” Ethan said, sarcastically. “He lied to us. Again.”

“Kira I’m telling you, Trent can’t be trusted,” Conner said.

Julie sighed, “I hate to agree with them, you know I do, but they’re right.”

Kira looked at them crestfallen, cradling the forgotten sketchbook in her arms. Julie walked up to her and wrapped the other girl in a tight hug.

“I know it’s hard to believe,” she whispered to the other girl. “But right now, we have no other options. We can’t trust Trent, especially since he’s the White Ranger. That could change, it has with other evil Rangers in the past, but for now? Kira, he fossilized Dr. Oliver. Trent _is_ the bad guy.”

The Yellow Ranger sighed and nodded, before following them back to the lab.

They ran back to the lab to see if the White Ranger was out causing chaos since he had disappeared on them, Kira trailing behind and Julie kept turning back to watch the other girl and make sure she stayed with them and didn’t go off to find Trent.

When they got back, Julie anxiously fiddled with her phone.

The Rangers and Hayley had come to an agreement that they wouldn’t tell anyone about Dr. O’s newfound hobby as a museum exhibit and it was killing Julie to not tell her brother or their mentor’s past teammates.

That also meant that she couldn’t tell them about Trent being the White Ranger, because _he_ was the one who fossilized Dr. O, even though they had all had experiences with past evil Rangers and could definitely help with figuring out how to turn Trent not-evil and maybe even how to free Dr. Oliver.

“I’m picking up the White Ranger’s signal,” Hayley said. “He’s back.”

The four Rangers ran towards the computers from four different corners of the lab, so entrenched in their own thoughts. They watched on the screens as the White Ranger summoned his DragoZord and the StegoZord and Julie felt her heart wrench as she watched the two Zords form into the Dino StegoZord MegaZord.

“Great. Major MegaZord action right off the bat,” Ethan groaned.

“Poor Stella,” Julie said, reaching out towards the screen. “We’ll save you.”

“This might be a good time to use a new DinoZord,” Hayley interjected. “I know it’s not the StegoZord, but-“

Julie sighed. “No, I know. Okay.”

“Let’s do it,” Conner said.

The four Rangers moved towards the middle of the lab away from the computer bank and Dr. O. Julie held her morpher up, ready to go, but Conner stopped in his tracks.

“Wait,” he said, turning and speaking to Kira directly. “We have to do whatever it takes to stop Trent. You know that, right?”

The two stared at each other for an uncomfortably long minute before the Yellow Ranger gave a succinct nod.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

* * *

Julie hated sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the Thundersaurus MegaZord to fully form before Hayley said over the comms, _“You’re a go Julie. AnkyloZord.”_

The Pink Ranger looked down at her morpher to see the familiar head of her pink StegoZord turn orange while the AnkyloZord burrowed its way up out of the ground.

It was very flat, with a heavily armored back and a long tail with a weapon shaped into a sharp poing on the end of it and Julie jumped into the cockpit, feeling the confusion and then quick acceptance of the DinoZord as they joined together.

“You ready AnkyloZord?” she asked it before turning to the others. “Let’s do this!”

“A new DinoZord, eh?” the White Ranger said, his voice carrying from his MegaZord. “I’ll have to add it to my collection.”

“I don’t think so!” Conner yelled.

“Not this time, bucko,” Julie replied, gritting her teeth, and holding tight to the controls.

Trent’s MegaZord reached out and grabbed onto the tail of the AnkyloZord while the Tricera arm of the Thundersaurus MegaZord reached out and grabbed onto the head and Julie let out a groan as the two MegaZords lifted the AnkyloZord hundreds of feet in the air and started playing tug of war with it.

“I’m getting tired of this,” she said. “AnkyloZord, get out!”

The AnkyloZord bit the Tricera arm, causing the Thundersaurus MegaZord to fall back and, at the same time, started to spin its tail to knock the enemy MegaZord loose as well. It landed on the ground with a thud, but on it’s feet even though it seemed to knock the two MegaZords on their sides.

“Sorry guys!” Julie called.

The MegaZords quickly got up and started fighting each other, but the Dino StegoZord MegaZord clearly had the upperhand.

“Let’s do this, AnkyloZord,” Julie said. “Fire!”

The back armor of the orange Zord started spinning rapidly as it curled its tail up and fired the projectile at the end towards Trent’s MegaZord right as it was about to hit the fallen Thundersaurus MegaZord and knocked it back.

 _“What are you guys waiting for?”_ Hayley asked over the comms. _“AnkyloZord may be small but check out his power.”_

“AnkyloZord Weapon Formation!” The Rangers shouted in unison.

The TriceraZord arm fell away and the AnkyloZord’s tail straightened into a spear and it’s armored back became almost shieldlike and rested on the shoulder of the Zord.

Julie felt a surge of energy as she joined into the MegaZord cockpit, having missed it greatly.

“Miss me?” she asked.

“Let’s go! Formation complete!”

The tail _and_ the armored plate started spinning independently of each other and Julie grinned inside her helmet, glad to be back in the action.

Julie didn’t have much time to get used to being in the main cockpit of the MegaZord as Trent unleashed a barrage of lasers at them.

“Deflect!” Julie yelled, pushing a button on her control panel.

Instead of being hit directly by the lasers, as they had been in the past, the MegaZord turned to the side and the spinning armor plate of the Ankylo arm _reflected_ the laser blasts back at Trent, which he clearly wasn’t expecting so he didn’t defend himself.

The MegaZord ran forward and swiped at Trent with the spinning Ankylo arm, knocking him to the side. The White Ranger was completely on the defensive, his MegaZord struggling to stand up. Even though she had lost most of her connection with the StegoZord since it was stolen, Julie still couldn’t help but send thankful thoughts at it for keeping him unsteady.

“Thundersaurus MegaZord!” the Rangers shouted. “Double Drill Attack!”

The MegaZord raised the Tyranno and Ankylo arms to the sky and they both started spinning rapidly in both directions before hitting Trent, once, twice, and knocking him back. They reared the Ankylo arm back and jabbed it, it’s weapon on the end hitting Trent’s MegaZord straight in the chest and sending him flying and crashing to the ground.

Trent got back up and said, “Don’t think this is over!”

Julie braced herself for some new thing, some new weapon, but instead of attacking them Trent and his MegaZord completely disappeared, running away from the fight.

* * *

“So, Julie, are you ready for your competition?”

Julie looked up from her notes to see Conner staring at her from one of the couches of Cyberspace. Ethan was too involved in his gaming magazine to care about his surroundings and Kira had disappeared quickly after the fight and Julie had hoped that she didn’t go to find Trent.

She sighed, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Her first-time skating in public since her accident had come quicker than she had even thought. She was leaving in two days for Germany, halfway around the world, to compete against people who she had known since she was in junior competitions, only now they were practically adults who had all seen her rise and fall.

“You’ll have to record the whole thing” Hayley said, coming over to them and wiping down a table. “I bet Tommy would like to see it whenever he…”

Julie nodded. “Of course! Justin will want to have a whole party whenever we get back,” she said. “He may not know anything about figure skating, but he’s been the most supportive big brother a girl could ask for. It might’ve been because I made his flash cards for him when we were kids and quizzed him on them every night, but still.”

“And the Astro Rangers can teleport you back?” Ethan asked, bringing up their previous talks. “Just in case the White Ranger comes calling?”

She nodded. “100%. And Kat will be house sitting for us, _and_ she has her Zeonizers so, if something happens, you can get in touch with her and she can be right there.”

The Blue Ranger nodded and turned back to his magazine, finally accepting the contingency plan upon contingency plan that she had created to keep them safe.

She had a medal to win, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's all for today! The White Ranger's intro arc is officially over so now we can start getting into the nitty gritty. Next chapter is Leader of the Whack and Julie will be in Germany for a skating thing, so get hype! Have a good day!


	15. Leader of the Wh(Pack)

Reefside was too small of a city to have its own international airport, so Julie, her brother, and her coach woke up at two in the morning to drive to Silver Hills. Mariner Bay also had an international airport, and it was closer to Reefside by a couple of hours, but Coach Theresa said it was awful and swore up and down that she would only fly out of Silver Hills or so help her, so Julie and Justin sucked it up and dealt with the peppy woman for the very early morning car ride.

“You’ve become really attached to that bracelet, haven’t you Julie?” her coach asked as they were standing in line for TSA. Julie snapped out of her exhausted stupor and turned to her. “Don’t forget though, you won’t be able to wear it on the ice.”

Julie clutched her communicator with her other hand, holding onto it tightly.

“No, I know,” she replied. “It’s just nice to have on. It was a gift from a friend.” If she could call Dr. Oliver that. Justin snickered into his hand but managed to turn it into a cough when she stepped on his foot. “I will definitely not have it anywhere near the rink.”

At Coach Theresa’s nod, Julie turned to her brother who was still lightly snickering as he started to take off his shoes for the check.

Julie was never one to not have a plan. During the actual skating programs, Justin would hold onto her bracelet. If she could’ve gotten away with keeping it under her sleeves, she would have, but her skating costumes all had thin, twisty straps instead of sleeves so there was no way she could’ve snuck it on the ice. If something were to happen, as soon as Julie got off the ice, she would run to the locker room and teleport to Reefside.

Still, it tore her apart inside to not be able to wear it, even for the ten minutes she would be performing. It had become an integral part of her at this point and to be without it would be like losing a limb.

The trio boarded the plane without any issue, with the Stewart siblings having an entire row to themselves for their seventeen-hour flight. Julie sent a quick message through the Dino Thunder team group message saying they had boarded the plane and if they needed her to beep her communicator, but it was only four am and hopefully Mesogog AND Trent were both asleep and not preparing to cause any trouble.

She received a quick ‘ _Good luck! :P’_ from Conner who was always up early to work out before she turned off her phone. Julie grinned and pulled her headphones over her ears, leaning back to try and fall asleep.

* * *

As soon as they got off the plane, Coach Theresa quickly bundled them into a taxi and to the rink. They didn’t have a lot of time to waste, especially not after their very long flight. The actual World’s itself didn’t start until the next morning, but Julie hadn’t necessarily been ‘picked’ to attend, so she needed to compete in the Qualifying rounds.

Which were starting in just four short hours.

Julie sent another quick message to the group, telling them that she had landed and was jumping immediately into Qualifying and asking if anything had happened, but she forgot that time zones existed and it was eleven at night for them. However, she did get a reply a couple of hours later, at one in the morning their time, right as she was about to lace up her skates and go to the rink to warm up.

It was just a quick _‘Everything’s good. Weird, but not a bad weird. Yet.’_ From Hayley and she thought about calling, time zones be darned, but it was then that Coach Theresa walked into the changing rooms to escort her out.

“You ready Julie-Bloom?” she asked. “It’s already a packed house and everyone I talked to is looking forward to seeing you!”

Julie gulped. “Who exactly do you mean by ‘everyone?’” she asked. Theresa looped her arm through the younger girls and led her out the swinging doors, almost dragging her.

“Oh, just a couple of the coaches and one of the judges. Arakawa, I believe. You’ll like her a lot,” Coach Theresa said. “You’ll be fine. You’ve got this! Just make sure to not underrotate your triple-triple-double and you’ll be _sailing_ into the short program with ease.”

The Pink Ranger nodded and took a deep breath, before pulling herself to her full height of five feet seven inches and straightening her spine.

Her hair was done up perfectly in a nice, tight bun and her makeup was simply, yet her bright pink lipstick was striking, making her face look tanner than the California sun ever could. Her skating dress was a simple white with pink lining and rhinestones – an old dress, but it was Qualifying and nobody really cared.

She didn’t usually put this much effort into her appearance, but this was the first time she was seeing her contemporaries outside of interviews and forums for the first time in two years. She had to be _the_ Julie Stewart that got bronze at the Olympics when she was only fifteen, not Julie Stewart the high school student slash super hero.

When they walked out of the corridor that led to the rink itself, Julie was inundated with all of the noise of people talking and a classical song playing over the speakers for the Qualifiers to warm up skate to. She looked across the crowd to where Justin had told her he was sitting and he shook his head, shaking her communicator in his hand.

Good. Things were going well.

Her coach took her jacket and bright pink skate guards and Julie walked over to the entrance of the rink, before taking a deep breath and skating on competition ice.

She was home.

* * *

“And now, attempting to qualify for the United States, Julie Stewart with Nina Rota’s _A Time for Us_!”

Julie didn’t even try to make eye contact with anyone in the audience, knowing it would shake her out of the headspace she had managed to sink into. Her warm-ups had gone smoothly, only getting a few weird looks from the other competitors because they definitely weren’t expecting to see her there. It had filled her with confidence as she breezed across the ice.

But now it was time for the real deal.

She stood still in the middle of the rink, the crowd falling to a hush as the soft violin music started to play and she rose her arms before slowly letting them fall, tightly spinning to the right before kicking off and skating.

Julie had worked tirelessly for _weeks_ after she finished her physical therapy, passing with flying colors, to be able to skate again and this routine was a simple one that, while it would definitely impress and hit all the judges’ buttons, wouldn’t be overtly complex and give away just how well she had actually improved. No, Coach Theresa had wanted to save her ability to do quads for the actual short and long programs, guaranteed that she’d bring home the gold.

A sudden push with her back foot led her into her first trick, her double salchow, and when she landed she heard brief applause from the audience before she sank into a set of spins, her hand just barely glazing the ice. She stood and straightened up before pulling her right leg, her _bad_ leg, up behind her head and continuing the spin.

She wondered what they would have to say about that.

The music softly continued and Julie tried her best to keep the smile off her face, she _knew_ that she had this – this easily being the best she had skated in a while. She did her last trick, a triple toe and landed it perfectly, not over or under rotating it and when she came to a solid stop, she held her arms tightly to her chest for the drama.

The audience burst into applause.

Julie was shaking as she raised her arms and bowed, a brilliant smile on her face made even brighter by her hot pink lipstick and blew a couple of kisses at the crowd, especially to those people who were cheering the loudest. With one last wave, she skated to the edge of the rink where Theresa was waiting with a laugh and a smile to hand her her jacket and skate guards.

“You did beautifully,” the woman said. “You sure showed them.”

They quickly hurried over to the Kiss and Cry, Julie laughing and shaking hands with random people as they walked by. In that time, Justin had caught up with them and Julie and her coach sat on the small bench provided for the skater to watch their scores.

Her coach held her elbow in a tight grip, and Julie anxiously watched the screen where the totals would appear. Justin held both of her shoulders in eager anticipation.

The scores rolled in and Julie let out a scream of joy. Theresa gathered her up into a hug as the television cameras came closer.

She had done it! She had officially qualified and was moving onto the Short Program!

* * *

“Well, well, well. I didn’t expect to see you here. Or ever again, honestly.”

The familiar voice came across as snarky, but Julie hadn’t honestly expected it. Ever since she had stepped off the ice, she had received nothing but congratulations and ‘welcome backs.’ She let the person sit in silence for a moment as she finished tying her shoes.

“Oh it’s you,” she said disdainfully. The person who had spoken scoffed.

Julie and Anita Chen had both started figure skating when they were very young children, but hadn’t met until they were preteens at a skating exhibition in New York. While Julie had grown up in California, Anita lived in Connecticut, clear across the country. Both girls were always competitive with each other, constantly switching between who got gold and who got silver at every competition growing up.

That is, until Julie made the US Olympic team and Anita didn’t.

The other girl had gone off on Julie after she received her offer to join the team, saying that she didn’t deserve it and she wasn’t technical enough to help the USA podium at anything and would just drag them down. What had once been a friendly rivalry, turned into pure antagonization. Anita had rubbed it in her face when she placed third at Salt Lake.

And then had written the most _scathing_ letter to the editor about her after her accident and sent it to almost every major publication that even somewhat covered figure skating.

While Julie had been recovering, she could only constantly read the editorial that her once-friend had written about her, where she called her ‘egotistical’ and ‘attention-seeking.’ She had said that her ‘little spill wasn’t that bad’ and ‘she was only trying to collect sympathy to retire early after getting the complete dishonor of winning the bronze medal.’

Julie had had numerous therapy sessions over the girl that had contributed a huge part of the trauma of her accident, and her hand twitched towards her communicator that was now, safely, back where it belonged.

Anita probably wouldn’t like fighting a Power Ranger, would she?

The Pink Ranger took a deep breath and straightened up, gripping the strap of her bag tightly.

“Hello Anita,” she finally said. “It’s been awhile.”

The other girl scoffed. “Don’t act so high and mighty, quitter,” she said. “Seriously, who’d you have to bribe to get a spot in Short?”

“Unlike some people, I don’t _have_ to bribe anyone to get to where I am,” Julie replied. “I _earned_ my spot in the Short Program, just like I’m going to _earn_ my spot in the Long Program, and _earn_ myself a gold medal.”

“Right, like that’s going to happen,” Anita scoffed. “A washed up has-been who’s been skating at some backwoods rink in small town Cali with a disgraced coach who’s only claim to fame is coming dead last in the Olympics, winning a gold medal? Puh-lease.”

Julie saw red, but right as she was about to drop her bag and lunge at the other girl, her communicator beeped and her heart rate picked up.

“Well, it’s been nice but I have to go,” Julie said, plastering a fake smile on her face. “See you tomorrow for the Short, _Annie_.”

Her fellow competitor opened her mouth to fire back at her, but Julie just pushed past her and speed walked down the hall, before finding an unlocked supply closet. She looked around to see if she saw anybody and ducked inside when it was all clear.

“Go for Julie,” she said.

 _“Hey, I didn’t mean to worry you,”_ Hayley said, her voice coming out loud and clear over the comm despite being across the world. _“Nothing major, my texts just wouldn’t go through.”_

“Yeah, international minutes are awful,” she replied. “What’s up? Do I-“

 _“No, you stay there,”_ Hayley said. _“It’s just… weird here. There was a rock that, I’m thinking, brings out inner personalities and the other are acting very strange. I wanted to see if it was just a local thing or if you were affected as well.”_

Confused, she asked, “Strange? Strange how?”

 _“Well, I think Conner has read more books in the past day than I think he’s read in his entire life,”_ the woman replied. _“And Ethan joined a gym. Kira has been dressing like a fifties housewife. I had been wondering if you were experiencing anything weird.”_

Julie let out a laugh. “Conner? Reading books? Please tell me you got a picture of that. But no, everything has been fine here.”

 _“Oh, I did. I knew you wouldn’t want to miss it,”_ Hayley said. _“Great job on qualifying. I hacked into a stream of it. You’re really good, ya know.”_

The teenager felt herself blush at the compliment. It was something to get it from reporters and judges and even figure skating fans, but to get it from somebody who had no idea what half of what went into figure skating was that she looked up to? Golden.

“Thanks Hayley. Look, I gotta go. I know its like three in the morning there. Call me if you need me!”

_“Will do! Good luck!”_

The communicator stopped glowing and Julie smiled before opening the door of the supply closet and walking out once she didn’t see anybody else.

Coach Theresa said she would treat her to lunch for her good work today, and she was _starving_.

* * *

The Short Programs passed almost as flawlessly as the Qualifying did. Julie put her _all_ into everything on the rink. Coach Theresa always said that Shorts had to be big and loud, and her program to ‘Thunderstruck’ by AC/DC was just that. Theresa had been confused, but accepting when Julie had picked the song, but she said she wanted it to be ‘in tribute to the Reefside Power Rangers’ and the woman had rolled with it.

She had skated out onto ice with a more sheer and rhinestoned version of the Pink Ranger’s suit – there was only one actual sleeve made of pink material with rhinestones in the shape of diamonds down it and the other was completely sheer with the same rhinestone patterns.

The Dino Thunder insignia was on the corner of her skirt. Justin had laughed when he saw it, knowing that nobody would ever know that she actually _was_ the Pink Ranger.

The Program was loud and energetic, she didn’t stop moving from the second the music started until after it ended – kicking and spinning. She had two sets of triples, a triple loop and a triple toe combo followed a few bars later by a triple flip and another triple toe and a fully extended leg spin. The last triple toe had been a little underrotated, but everything else was _flawless_.

Julie sat at Kiss and Cry, crossing her fingers. The Longs were where she was going to debut her quad, the first quad every done by a woman in ranked competition, so she _needed_ to be there.

And she was. More than that, she had edged out Anita and _beaten_ the other girl, who hadn’t earned a spot in the Long Programs.

She stared in stunned shock as both Justin and Coach Theresa celebrated around her.

“You did it Little Pain!” Justin cheered, swinging her around when she had left Kiss and Cry.

Coach Theresa had walked away to gloat to the other coaches, because thankfully that was when her communicator started beeping.

 _“Julie? We need you.”_ Came Hayley’s voice over the comms.

Brother and sister looked at each other before nodding. Justin turned to go catch Theresa and tell her that Julie went back to the hotel room to take an ice bath to soothe her sore muscles while Julie ran back to the locker room and only had the time to change into regular shoes before the Astro Rangers beamed her across the world back to Reefside.

When she landed in the Dino Lab, she almost vomited from the realignment of her particles and saw the absolute strangest sight. Ethan was standing there in a cut off shirt holding a dumbbell, Conner was wearing a _blazer and glasses_ , and Kira? Kira was wearing a full on dress and high heels and… were those false lashes?

“I think I missed something,” she said as she blinked, trying to adjust to the site. Hayley just shrugged at her.

“I think we can fix it,” she said. “But, look at you. What, is this a tribute?”

Julie looked down and realized she was still wearing her dress and blushed. The others, at this point, were also staring at her. Conner, thankfully, took off his blazer and gave it to her to cover up.

“It was a whole thing,” she said. “Coach thought it would be ‘cute.’”

“I think I might have found a way to un-fossilize Dr. Oliver,” Hayley said. Julie’s eyes widened.

“Seriously?”

“Really?” “No way!”

“The meteor fragment,” Hayley continued. Julie remembered her mentioning it yesterday. “My theory is that it frees your inner self – that’s why you guys are acting so weird.”

“Of course!” Conner said, making a weird face as if he were understanding. “If you could harness its power, you could free Dr. Oliver from the inside out. Although, I do take offense at being called ‘weird.’”

“I didn’t know you knew half those words,” Julie said, looking up at him. He turned to her and opened his mouth to say something in reply, but Hayley spoke first.

“Sorry, you’re not being weird,” she said. “It’s just that the rock is allowing you to show a side of yourself that you don’t usually show.”

Conner made his understanding face again, that still definitely creeped Julie out, and said, “A recessive personality trait!”

“You could say that,” Hayley said. “Like, Conner, there’s a part of you that’s intelligent, studious.”

“A very small part, but it’s there,” Julie added under her breath. Only Kira heard her and the Yellow Ranger giggled.

“Ethan, there’s a part of you that’s athletic, even competitive.”

“So that’s why Trent helped us,” Kira said, speaking up. Julie’s jaw dropped, confused, but Conner shook his head as if he would explain later. “There’s still a part of him that’s really good!”

Hayley nodded in reply as Ethan said, “I still don’t get any of this.”

“You don’t have to,” the red head said. “For now, just pull it together as a team. Trust me.”

“That sounds logical,” Conner replied, nodding.

“Alright, here’s what I need you to do-“ Hayley started before she was interrupted by the alert sensors going off.

They all turned towards the screen and Julie recoiled at the big brain monster with maces for hands AND a tail terrorizing the city.

“First things first,” Hayley declared, turning back to them.

Julie watched as Conner set the (multiple) books he was holding, Ethan dropped his hand grips, and Kira dropped her _multiple_ shopping bags on the ground before they stepped away from the computers.

“Ready?” Ethan asked.

“Ready,” the others replied.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

* * *

“Hey mutant!” Conner shouted as they ran up to the monster who was firing lasers at the civilians.

“Not you again!” it cried out. “And another one? What is this?”

“It’s a party bud,” Julie said. “And you’re gate crashing.”

“Thundermax Saber!” she and Conner yelled, summoning their swords and running towards the monster.

It reared its mace arms back as if to swing at them, but the two Rangers jumped into the air and landed while swiping at the monster multiple times.

Conner gave it a solid kick to push it away while he rolled and Julie backflipped back towards the others.

“Most excellent!” Conner celebrated.

“What he said.”

“I got something for you, too!” Ethan cried out from behind them.

“Wow,” Kira said, joining. “Leave some for me!”

The Blue and Yellow Rangers ran towards them, jumping up and springing off of Conner and Julie’s shoulders like a launchpad towards the monster, both kicking multiple times and sending the thing flying backwards until it fell on its back.

“All together now!” Kira said.

All four Rangers summoned their blasters and shot off at the same time. Julie couldn’t see through all of the sparks and smoke so she turned around with the others to celebrate.

But was quickly blown forward from the force of the monster’s lasers.

“This creature leaves us no choice!” Conner said as they all pushed themselves to their feet.

“Super Dino Mode!”

Julie felt herself hunch over into a lower center of gravity as her shell armor grew around her before running towards the monster. This time, the hits from his lasers literally brushed off of them like water.

“Super Dino Power!” they shouted.

Conner ran in first and sideswiped the monster while Kira darted in and hit it with her wings. Julie and Ethan nodded at each other before charging, grabbing it around its sides to try and throw it with their new enhanced strength.

The monster swiped its tail underneath their feet which they managed to dodge just in time before all four Rangers backflipped a good distance back. The monster tried to fire it’s lasers again, but they still didn’t work.

All four ran and jumped through the air. Both Kira and Ethan landed on the monsters shoulders to grab its arms and hold it down for her and Conner to attack. Conner struck out with his leg in a kick while Julie just cannonballed directly into the monster.

“Double or nothing!” the Yellow and Blue Rangers shouted before twisting the monsters arms and running forwards before turning back and kicking it in its chest.

“Outstanding!”

“Go us!”

“Let’s put ‘em together!” Ethan directed.

Julie summoned her axe and knelt down in front of the blaster, using her axe to hold it up.

“Z-Rex Blaster!”

“Ready?” Kira asked.

“Fire!” Conner commanded.

Julie held it steady as it charged, and then watched as it hit the monster and _decimated_ it. She would honestly be surprised if Mesogog had enough left of it make it big.

So, suffice to say, she was surprised when their celebrations were halted by the monster got large and grew 30-stories tall, his mace arms looking a lot more dangerous now that it could take out a city block in one strike.

“Oh here we go,” Julie sighed.

“It’s Zord time!” Conner called into his communicator.

They watched as the BrachioZord crested over the sky line once more and the TyrannoZord, TriceraZord, and PteraZord all came out. Julie watched as her Stego morpher turned into the Ankylo head.

The three primary colored Rangers quickly formed the Thundersaurus MegaZord and Julie shouted, “AnkyloZord!”

The orange auxiliary Zord emerged from the BrachioZord and she jumped inside it’s cockpit as it joined with the MegaZord.

“Take this!” the monster shouted, firing an overcharged laser at them.

“Not gonna happen!” Julie replied, turning them sideways so the spinning plate of the AnkyloZord could deflect the blow. If it could stop the White Ranger, it could stop _anything_.

It sent it straight back at the monster as Ethan said, “That did it!” while cheering.

“Catch you on the flip side!” the monster called to them as it started to run through downtown. They quickly tried to chase it only for it to be caught by Trent in _his_ MegaZord.

“Going somewhere?” the White Ranger asked.

“It’s Trent!” Kira said. “He came to help us!”

The White Ranger’s MegaZord sent it’s weapon straight at the monster, knocking it to the ground. The Thundersaurus MegaZord finally caught up.

“Double Drill Attack!” they called.

The two drill arms of their MegaZord sliced once, twice, three times at the monster, causing it to fall over and explode before it hit the ground.

Leaving the two MegaZords facing off against each other.

“Are you guys sure he’s good?” Julie couldn’t help but ask, her grip tightening on the side of her console.

“He should be!” Conner said. “He was accompanying us when we located the meteorite.”

Instead of fighting them, like Julie had thought, Trent simply said, “I’m outta here.” Before turning and walking away. She started forlornly at her StegoZord that she missed so much, hoping that Trent was treating her well.

“Trent!” Kira tried to call after him, but he continued walking away.

Once they had disbanded the MegaZord, the four Rangers hopped on their cycles and rode through the forest to where the meteorite had landed the day before. Julie was surprised to see it still there, she had honestly been worried some scavenger had seen it and stolen it before they could get to it.

“Okay guys,” Conner directed. “Lasers on full power!”

Julie revved her engine as they crested a hill and pushed the button on the handlebars to fire her Cycle’s lasers into the hole where the meteorite was giving off a strange, glowing purple energy.

Their lasers hit their mark and the Rangers skidded to a stop as they waited for the smoke to clear.

“Power down,” Conner said.

The four Rangers demorphed and Julie remembered that she was still in her figure skating dress and Conner’s blazer, but put it aside as they ran towards the wreckage site.

“Do you think this will work?” Kira asked as Ethan picked up the remnants of the rock.

“The component should still have residual powers that could help Dr. O,” the Blue Ranger said. Julie grinned at the use of the words that were longer than two syllables.

“How do you know this stuff?” Conner asked, confused. Julie’s grin got larger at his normal confusion.

“It’s called education,” Ethan replied.

“Yay! You guys are fixed!” Julie cheered, throwing her hands up into the air and celebrating. “Kira, what about you?”

“I never want to see a shopping mall again,” the Yellow Ranger replied, a snarky smile on her face.

“Let’s get this rock back to the lab,” Conner said.

Julie stepped back. “I gotta get back to Germany! Make sure my cycle gets home and keep me updated about Dr. O!”

“You got it!” Ethan called at her as she pinged the Astro Rangers with her morpher. “Good luck!”

“Kick some ice!” Kira called back at her.

Julie saluted her three teammates as the other team of Rangers beamed her up and set her down in her and Justin’s hotel room where her brother was laying back on his bed and reading a magazine.

“Hey Little Brain, how’d it go?”

“Oh, you know,” she replied. “Fight the bad guy, beat the bad guy, bad guy turns into a skyscraper, we turn into a skyscraper, defeat the bad guy with the help of our evil Ranger guy, find a mysterious rock that changes your personality – you know, the usual.”

Justin snorted and set his magazine aside, sitting up on the bed.

“Okay, then who’s blazer is that?”

Julie looked down and blushed before taking off the garment of clothing that she had forgotten to give back to Conner and throwing it at her brother who was laughing.

* * *

Julie stood in the center of the ice as the piano music slowly started to trickle and grow louder and louder. She pushed off with her skates and started skating around the rink, moving her arms soulfully to the dramatic music and building up speed.

Get in quick, Theresa had said when they were reworking her Long program. Shock them first, then everything will be a cakewalk.

The Pink Ranger was soaring over the ice as she pushed off, spinning in the air once, twice, three, _four_ times and landing the jump perfectly as the crowd _roared_ in appreciation.

She was the first woman to execute a quad jump and she was _thriving_.

If Julie had had any nerves going into her final Long Program, they had all disappeared by that point as she skated better than she ever had in her life. Her spins were perfect, her lines were straight and her other jumps? Child’s play compared to the quad.

Her chest was heaving as the music finally came to a stop, her head dipped back to look up at the bright fluorescent lights as the crowd cheered for her.

Two hours later, after the rest of the skaters did their programs and after the interviews and the talks with the record keepers, Julie stood on the highest tier of the podium – a bouquet of pink flowers in her arms and a gold medal around her neck.

* * *

“I assume you’re feeling normal?” Hayley asked the other three Rangers a couple of days later as they gathered in the lab. Julie sat on a stool and grinned, having been unable to take the gold medal off since it was placed around her neck. The TSA agents almost had to fight her so she could get through security.

“Thank goodness,” Ethan said, letting out a sigh.

“I hear that,” Conner added.

Julie laughed, “I wish I could’ve been here! What do you think is my inner personality?”

“A lazy bum,” Ethan said, elbowing her with a smile. She hit him in the shoulder as Kira started to speak.

“Since the meteor changed Trent to good, couldn’t we use it to fight the effects of the Dino Gem?”

Hayley shrugged with a nod, “That might work, but let’s try this first.”

She had the meteorite sample Ethan had taken from the wreckage a few days ago in a cylindrical holder and the Rangers watched, anxiously, as she placed it inside another tube that was lit up and connected to a satellite dish.

“Come on Hayley!” Ethan cheered as she flipped three switches.

“Activating,” the red head said as she looked up to stare at the amber where Dr. O had been encased for over a week now.

The coils on the thing holding the meteorite lit up brighter as it powered energy to the satellite dish that transmitted the power directly at Dr. O’s fossilized form. Julie gripped Conner’s arm and Kira’s hand tightly, watching the process and hoping that Dr. Oliver would be back to normal in no time.

The laser of light from the satellite dish started to eat away at the amber, revealing more and more of Dr. Oliver to them, before the system it was hooked up to started to spark and smoke before failing completely.

“The rock! It’s fried!” Kira said as she pulled the rock holder out of its container.

“What now?” Julie asked, biting her lip anxiously.

“Look!” Conner said, pointing.

Julie snapped her head up and gasped as Dr. O started to stumble over to them.

“It worked!” Kira cheered.

The five of them ran over to their teacher, teammate and mentor who said, “Good job guys! I knew you could do it! Power down.”

Only for him to not power down.

The teenagers and Hayley looked at each other, confused as Dr. Oliver tried a couple more times to demorph.

“I think we might have a problem,” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My writing of figure skating? Almost worse than my writing of actual fight scenes. And yes, if Julie would have been local for the meteorite, she would've been completely lazy and unmotivated because it's the actual opposite of her as a person.


	16. Burning at Both Ends

Julie stared in shocked silence as she watched her teacher try and demorph, only to fail each and every time. Did the amber do something to him?

“Dr. O, I know the suit looks good and all,” Kira started, “but quit kidding around.”

“I wish I could Kira,” the Black Ranger said. “When Trent froze me in that amber, somehow my Dino gem in my morpher must’ve re-molecularized.”

“In other words?” Conner asked, confused.

Hayley sighed. “He’s stuck.”

“Why can’t you just like, take off the helmet?” Julie asked. “Or are you just a walking suit with Dr. O’s brain and voice but his body is somewhere else because of the re-molecularization?”

“That’s exactly-“ Dr. Oliver started, but was interrupted by Hayley pushing her way past the group and back to the computer bank.

“Speaking of Trent,” the red head said. “Looks like he’s up to no good again.”

“I am _so_ over that poser,” Conner said angrily.

Dr. O sighed. “Go. I’ll see what we can figure out here.” He looked to Julie. “Keep your brother on standby, we might need him. He knew all the science behind why he was morphed to look like an adult even though he was just a kid and we might be able to use his knowledge to help in my situation.”

The Pink Ranger nodded, “Just say the word Dr. O and he’ll be out here.”

“Ready?” Conner asked.

“Ready,” the others replied, putting their hands over their morphers.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

* * *

By the time they got downtown where Trent and his MegaZord were literally destroying the city, Julie almost vomited at the destruction that they passed. Whole buildings were torn down and the civilians were literally running for their lives while everything burned and crumbled around them.

What _happened_ to the sweet boy who liked to draw superheroes?

The ride to get closer to Trent was bumpy. They had to leave the Raptor Cycles behind because of all the debris so they were riding their Raptor Riders who had a lot more maneuverability but were very shaky.

That might also be one of the reasons that Julie was going to vomit. She had never done well with motion sickness.

“Fire!” Conner commanded as they got close enough.

The quad of Rangers pulled out their blasters and fired them at the MegaZord, not really doing much other than drawing Trent’s attention down to them and Julie prepared herself to lunge out of the way at any moment to avoid its giant feet.

“That’s enough!” Conner yelled up at their once-friend in the cockpit.

“I’m just getting started,” Trent replied.

The Red Ranger sighed. “It’s Zord time!”

Julie bit her lip as she watched as her Zord, still attached to Trent’s MegaZord, didn’t even twitch. The connection between the two of them that she had thought was so deep, was a chasm of emptiness.

Her StegoZord was well and truly gone.

The primary-colored Ranger summoned their Zords and Julie looked down to see her Stego Morper turn into the Parasaur Morpher and sent a silent thanks to Dr. O and Hayley back at the lab before jumping into its cockpit as it formed the left arm of the Thundersaurus MegaZord.

“Make your move,” they heard Trent say, confidently.

“What’s he up to?” Ethan asked.

“I don’t know,” Kira said passionately. “But we have to stop him!”

Suddenly, a large length of chain shot out of Trent’s MegaZord and flew towards them, wrapping them so tightly that they struggled to get out. “I hate to do this to you,” the White Ranger said, you know - like a liar, definitely not hating that he had to do it.

“Conner do something!” Julie begged as she pressed buttons on her console, trying to figure someway to break out.

“We need DinoZord help!” the Red Ranger said.

He pushed a button on his console and Julie felt the CephaloZord and the DimetrodonZord go online and start towards them.

But then, “Perfect.”

In horror, Julie watched as two sparkling lights flew out of Trent’s MegaZord and went straight to their auxiliary Zords, enveloping them and stopping them in their tracks by placing them in giant barrels.

“What?” Conner asked, stunned. “Let them go!”

“You already took one!” Julie cried out.

“And I’ll take them all,” Trent replied.

“Trent, you’ve gotta stop this!” Kira pleaded. “You’re out of control!”

The White Ranger snorted, “Looks more like I’m _in_ control.”

“What’s he gonna do with them?” Ethan asked, worriedly.

“Probably make a bigger MegaZord,” Julie said through gritted teeth.

Trent shot a large, purple laser at them that hit directly because they weren’t paying attention and the four Rangers cried out as the Thundersaurus MegaZord shook.

By the time it stopped shaking and they looked up, Trent had disappeared – taking their auxiliary Zords with him.

* * *

The four Rangers rushed back to the lab, pushing their Raptors as fast at they would go. By the time they slid to a stop and climbed off their Raptors (who were so well-trained that they went straight into their paddocks, thanks Dr. O and Hayley), the red head was already scanning the county to find where their Zords had been taken.

Julie unclipped her helmet and took it off, cradling it under her arm as she stared in shock.

“What’s the situation, Hayley?” Dr. O asked.

“It’s no good,” the other woman said. “He’s got them in a force field.”

Julie bit her lip, concerned.

“It’s not Trent’s fault,” Kira pleaded. “The Gem is making him this way!”

“I don’t care whose fault it is,” Conner said, succinctly. “We find a way to deal with him, or things are going to get ugly.”

Julie nodded. “Kira, it may be the Gem, but the White Ranger still actively destroyed a huge part of the city just by being a jerk than anything we or one of Mesogog's monsters have done in fights. People’s _lives_ are actively at risk now.”

“Slow down,” Dr. Oliver said. “I was in his shoes once, and I wouldn’t be here today if my friends had given up on me.”

The Pink Ranger bit her tongue on a reply, knowing full well that the situations were vastly different.

“Okay, so we don’t give up yet,” Ethan said with a sigh. “But what do we do?”

“Yeah, asking him nicely hasn’t exactly worked,” Julie added.

“Go back to school,” their teacher said. “Keep a low profile. Hayley and I will let you know if anything changes.”

The four Rangers reluctantly nodded and turned away.

“Julie?” Dr. O called.

The Pink Ranger stopped and turned back to her teacher. “What’s up?”

“Don’t tell Justin. We’re working on it.”

She nodded and followed after her friends.

* * *

Julie closed her eyes and stretched as she sat outside during her study period, soaking up the sun before it started to get as cold as Northern California got in the winter. Her sport of choice may deal with being cold, but she still loved the warm feeling of basking in the sun on nice days.

She sighed and looked down at her planner, literally filled to the brim with different sticky notes marking what she needed to do that day, week, and month in order to be able to graduate with the rest of her friends.

She couldn’t afford to stay in school an extra year, especially not with Olympic qualifiers, and she didn’t have the patience to do homeschooling again.

She yawned right as her communicator beeped. Julie looked around carefully to see if anyone was paying attention before she held it up to her mouth.

“Go for Julie.”

_“It’s Conner. Something happened. Please come.”_

Julie shoveled her belongings into her overstuffed bag, “Where are you?”

_“At the bleachers to the soccer field. There’s no practice today so I figured it was safe.”_

“Safe? For what? What exactly is going on?” she asked as she looked around, still making sure no one was watching her as she started to quickly walk to the other side of the campus.

_“Julie please, hurry.”_

The Pink Ranger sighed as the communicator shut off and picked up speed.

The bleachers to the soccer field were old concrete and generally in disrepair, but still not enough of a hazard for the school to redo. It was also the only covered bleachers in case of rain, which the soccer team were notorious to play in.

She caught sight of Conner running his hands through his hair anxiously and picked up her pace until she was standing next to the boy, putting a hand on his elbow.

“Hey, relax. It’s gonna be fine,” she said. “Now what happened? Was it-“

Conner grabbed her by the shoulders and physically turned her around and she held in her gasp as she saw the disgruntled form of Trent sitting on the lowest bleacher, his head in his hands.

“ _Conner_!” she hissed through her teeth, slapping him on the chest. “Wha-?”

“We were fighting,” the Red Ranger explained, his voice low. “I was holding my own, we both went down. Zeltrax and a new monster appeared and blasted him with something – when he demorphed, he said he was him again.”

“He said he was him again?” Julie asked. Conner nodded.

“He’s reformed, yeah.”

Julie bit her lip and looked from her friend to the boy who used to be their friend anxiously. Was it true? Was whatever he was blasted with enough to turn him normal? She saw that Trent still had his Dino gem around his wrist.

She opened her mouth to say something as the final bell rang.

“Can you stay here and watch him while I go get the others?” Conner asked. Julie nodded, absently as she continued to stare at the supposed reformed Ranger. “Okay, I’ll be back quick.”

Julie gripped her bags straps tighter in her hand as she stood a significant distance from the other Ranger. She was worried, and she had the right to be.

The only thing she could think about was Stella and what this meant. Would he give her back? Or still keep her? And what about the auxiliary Zords that he just stole?

Would they be an actual team of six? Could she _trust_ him enough to be an actual teammate?

It didn’t take long for Conner to flag down the others and Julie turned to them at Kira’s gasp.

“It’s Trent,” Ethan said, awed. “Now I know you’re crazy.”

“I know dude, but check it out,” Conner explained. “He’s reformed.”

“Really?” Kira asked, hopefully. “Trent? Are you in there?”

It was then that the White Ranger finally stood up and Julie couldn’t help but take a subtle step back.

“Hey,” he said. “It’s really me.”

“One of Mesogog’s monster attacks backfired,” Conner explained.

“I think he released the Dino gem’s hold,” Trent explained, a smile on his face.

The group were quiet for a minute before Ethan finally said, “That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

“Guys look,” Trent started. “I’m really sorry for everything I’ve done to you. You gotta believe it wasn’t me.” He sighed. “If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you…”

“Oh, I have a list,” Julie started. “Starting with my Zord.”

“How about returning all of our Zords, for starts?” Ethan said, cutting her a look. She narrowed her eyes at the Blue Ranger as Trent let out a puff of a laugh.

“Meet me in the warehouse district this afternoon,” he said. “I’ll give you back your Zords. Especially the StegoZord.” Trent smiled at them. “And I might have a little peace offering, as well.”

The four Rangers looked at each other in various stages of acceptance, before agreeing.

* * *

“I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Julie said, as they morphed and climbed onto their Raptor Cycles later that afternoon. “What if he’s lying? I want Stella back more than anything but-“

“I believe him,” Kira said. “If Trent says he’s reformed, he’s reformed.”

Julie tried not to make a remark about how of course the other girl would believe anything he said, but held it down. She looked over at Conner and Ethan who were decidedly not looking at her, even though she knew they were both just as wary.

They were putting all of their eggs into this one basket and she felt like she was the only one that could see all of the holes.

“Be careful,” Dr. O said as he climbed onto the back of Conner’s Cycle. “We don’t know what he’s got. The main goal is to get the Zords. If he starts acting weird, get out fast.”

The four Rangers nodded and started up their Cycles before the back door of the lab opened and they rode out.

It had been Julie’s idea for them to morph before they got there, just in case, and the others reluctantly did so. She would’ve thought that, with how skeptical Conner and Ethan had been that they would be all for it, but Conner, specifically, seemed to want to present a united front of acceptance after what Dr. Oliver said.

But she just couldn’t. Not until Trent proved himself.

Thankfully the warehouse district was on the edge of town so it didn’t take them long to get there, riding into the open hanger doors of the one that Trent had specified to them before he left. Julie caught sight of him sitting on a bunch of boxes, out of the way.

“Hey! Over here!” Trent called, waving his hand in the air.

The four pulled their bikes to a stop and climbed off, meeting the unmorphed White Ranger in the middle of the warehouse.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Dr. Oliver said. “I tagged along, just in case.”

“Dr. Oliver,” Trent said, holding out his hand to shake the other man’s. “You’re okay.”

“More or less,” their teacher replied.

“I hate to get right to the point,” Ethan started. “But I don’t see any Zords around here.”

“And I don’t feel my connection to the StegoZord,” Julie added, crossing her arms.

Trent, however, didn’t seem phased by them. “I thought we’d start with the peace offering I promised first.” He turned around and walked away.

Julie gulped and looked at the others, confused, as Trent walked over to where a tarp was covering something and ripped it away to reveal an ATV that looked like it could’ve belonged to Dr. O. It was heavy-duty and sturdy, the opposite of their Raptor Cycles.

The boys made noises of appreciation once it was unveiled, but Julie still kept her eyes on Trent, waiting for the Zords.

“I figured you guys could use the help against Mesogog,” Trent explained. “Who wants to try it out?”

“Make way,” Ethan said, pushing through to the front, but was stopped by Dr. O placing a hand on his shoulder.

“Sorry Ethan,” their teacher said. “I think it’s better if I try it first.”

Julie couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she watched their teammate walk up to the person who used to be/could still very well be their enemy to look at the new vehicle. She couldn’t hear much of what he said as he inspected it and then got on it, relaxing into the seat.

“12-stroke engine?” she heard Dr. O asked.

Trent nodded. “Yeah, it sure is.”

Dr. O’s head jerked up quick. “They don’t make 12-stroke engines, Trent.”

Julie gasped as Trent’s face _twisted_ in a way that it hadn’t been and his voice deepened into that of the White Ranger as he turned to Dr. O, “And Mesogog doesn’t make monsters that turn people nice, either.”

“No!” the other Rangers screamed out as Trent struck out at Dr. O and rolled over a crate and kicked something on the back of the ATV, causing its wheels to start to spin and sending him forward.

“It’s a trap!” Dr. Oliver cried out as he gripped onto the handlebars to avoid falling off.

Julie and the others threw themselves out of the path of the ATV as it drove straight for them, but she didn’t have time to look at where Dr. O had gone because they needed to do something about Trent.

“Dr. O!” Conner shouted after their teacher before turning to Trent. “You’ll pay for this!”

The White Ranger whistled and an almost identical ATV, except in the colors of the White Ranger, rolled up.

“No way,” Ethan said, his jaw dropped.

“Later, suckers,” Trent said with a smirk before he jumped, morphed in midair, and landed in the seat of his ATV.

“Stop!” Conner called out as Trent raced past them, they went to go after him as an Invisiportal opened up in the middle of the warehouse, dropping a truly terrifying monster and a hoard of Tyranno Drones in front of them.

“Not so fast!” the monster said, waggling his finger. “You’re not going anywhere!”

“Try and stop us,” the Red Ranger replied. “Come on guys!”

All four ran back to their Cycles, the speed necessary to catch up to Dr. O and Trent once they beat the monster.

Julie had only just thrown her leg over the bike as the monster shouted, “Attack!” And the Drones rushed forward.

Even with the limited space of the warehouse, the Rangers easily had the upper hand on their bikes – crossing paths with each other and different groups of Drones and firing their lasers at the Drones. They had to make sharp turns, but with the maneuverability of the cycles it was easy.

“Out of the pan and into the fryer!” Julie said as she turned towards the monster once all the Drones had moved out of the way. She revved her engine and burst forward, only for the monster to hold up a satellite dish and fire a red laser at her.

She screamed as she was thrown off her Cycle and landed in a big pile of shipping crates, watching as her Cycle lost control without its rider and ran headfirst into a wall, exploding.

From the ground, Julie watched as Ethan and Kira, as a pair, tried to take the monster only to get shot by the same laser. She pulled herself up and ran to the Yellow Ranger as their bikes were destroyed, only for Conner to attempt the same thing.

With the same results.

“Conner!” Julie called as the three others limped over to their leader.

“Are you okay?” Kira asked, barely holding herself up.

“Is that all you god?” the monster asked, smugly.

A rush of energy burst through her and Julie, along with the others, turned towards the monster and shouted, “Super Dino Mode!”

The Pink Ranger flexed as she felt the armored plates cover her body, welcoming the increase in stamina from the upgrade.

“Super _what_?” the monster, asked confused, as the four Rangers ran straight towards him. “Attack!”

But he was interrupted as Conner literally jump kicked him in the face.

Julie tried to keep up with what her teammates were doing as she faced down her own group of Tyranno Drones.

She tucked her head down and ran straight at the Drones, full on tackling two down the ground before she rolled and popped back up to her feet. Julie jumped as high as she could and flipped backwards, only to teleport in front of another Drone and came down, hard, with a powerful axe kick from the momentum.

In their Super Dino Mode, the Rangers easily defeated the Drones and Julie watched with pleasure as they disappeared back into an Invisiportal.

“Your bikes are history!” the monster gloated. “We’re through here, bye!”

Julie ran towards him, as if to stop him disappearing into an Invisiportal, only for the monster to turn and get hit by lasers as Dr. Oliver, on his ATV, rode into the warehouse.

“Go, Dr. O!” Conner cheered.

The Black Ranger skidded to a stop in front of them and climbed off, “Talk about a wild ride.”

“Glad you’re okay!” Kira said as the quad of teenagers ran around to join up beside him.

“Later days!” the monster shouted, holding his satellite dish in the air and disappearing into an Invisiportal-

Right as Trent rolled into the warehouse as well, coming to a stop right where the monster had been.

Here they go.

“I see my friends have been keeping you busy,” he said, skidding to a stop. He climbed off his ATV. “Someone’s been careless with their toys.”

“You’re making a mistake Trent,” Dr. O said, stepping forward. “Don’t trust Mesogog.”

“Who says I do?” the White Ranger interrupted. “I got what I wanted. Goodbye Rangers.”

He went to turn away.

“Give me back my Zord!” Julie yelled after him. She went to run forward, but Ethan held her back.

“Say goodbye to it, and them, too,” Trent said, laughing evilly.

“Trent! Don’t do this!” Dr. O pleaded as the White Ranger got back on his vehicle as he continued to laugh.

But he didn’t listen, saying “I’m outta here!” and peeling out of the warehouse.

Julie screamed. “That _jerk_!”

* * *

“Can we go over this again?” Conner asked for what felt like the hundredth time once they got back to the lab. “Trent made a deal with Mesogog, pretending to let Insectollite turn him back into himself as a way of tricking us into taking the rigged ATV?”

Julie sighed, angrily as she leaned against the wall. “And also promising that he would give us our Zords back.”

“I can’t believe he made a deal with Mesogog,” Kira said, upset. “That is a new low.”

“And risky,” Ethan added. “Trent was supposed to beat us. Mesogog’s not gonna be happy.”

“Lighting the candle at both ends,” Dr. Oliver started. “The White Ranger’s bound to get burned.”

“And I think I know how to get the fire going,” Hayley interrupted, standing up and joining their little powwow.

“The ray used by Insectollite destroyed your energy shields,” she explained. “I bet if you could get that creep to aim his energy buster at the Zords…”

“We could break through Trent’s shield around them!” Kira finished.

Julie looked up, hopeful, as Ethan started to speak, “Okay, small problem. How’s Trent gonna feel about all this?”

“Every trap needs its bait,” Hayley said, firmly.

* * *

“Trent! Where are you?” Kira called once they got back to the warehouse district which seemed to be the White Ranger’s usual hideout.

“We gotta talk, bro,” Conner said.

“I have some words for you dude,” Julie yelled out, angrily.

“Trent!” Ethan shouted.

“You made a deal with Mesogog,” Dr. O said. “Now it’s time you made one with us.”

Julie clenched her fists as she looked around, trying to spot the White Ranger who could camouflage himself, only for him to pop out behind a corner.

Everything stopped, for a minute, before both groups charged at each other. Trent however, used his speed and sliced at them, knocking them away from each other.

He pulled Conner to the side and Julie tried to go forward, but Dr. O held her back.

“You wanted to see me?” he asked, his sword at Conner’s neck.

“We wanted to make a deal of our own,” the Red Ranger said, his voice firm.

Trent scoffed, “I don’t make deals with posers.”

“Take that back!” Conner yelled out as he _threw_ Trent’s sword off of him and struck out. The White Ranger dodged out of the way both from Conner’s punch and his leg swipe, using his shoulder as a launchpad where he landed a few feet away from them on a tall edge of a building.

“You just won’t learn, will you?” he asked, putting his sword over his shoulder.

“Learn what?” Conner asked as the other four Rangers ran up behind him.

“The White Ranger always wins,” Trent declared. He swung his sword and disappeared right as the communicators started beeping.

“Go,” Dr. O said.

 _“It’s working,”_ Hayley replied. _“The monster is back on the other side of the warehouse.”_

“Got it,” the Black Ranger said.

The five Rangers looked at each other and nodded as Conner said, “Come on!” and ran to the other side of the warehouse, trying to get the jump on the monster.

“There he is!”

It was like an old western duel, Julie couldn’t help but note as the five Rangers stood at one end of an alleyway and the monster at the other.

“Outta my way,” the monster said. “I’ve been sent to get the White one!”

Instead of replying with words, the Rangers ran forward to attack. It dodged Conner and Dr. O’s attacks easily, but Julie landed a solid punch. Conner went to kick him again, but was thrown away, as Ethan and Kira used the monster’s distraction to kick him in the chest and send him back.

“Sabers!” the five Rangers said, summoning their swords.

However, the monster sent a laser burst at them, sending them flying.

“Brachio Staff! Energy orb!” Dr. O yelled. He stood quickly and formed a perfect circle with his staff. “You’re going down.”

Julie watched from her spot on the ground as their teacher sent the energy orb at the monster, hitting it directly and causing it to burst into sparks. She wondered if that was too much.

“Let’s help him out guys,” Conner directed. “Tyranno Staff!”

“Stego Axe!”

“Tricera Shield!”

“Ptera Grips!”

Kira leaped forward first, using her grips to grab onto the monster and swing herself around him. Conner thrust his staff into the ground next, using it as a base as he spun around it in circles – hitting the monster at least ten times.

Julie held the base of her axe with both hands and started spinning like a top, bumping into the monster with every blow as Ethan ran forward and stabbed the monster with the bottom of his shield and hoisting it up into the air.

“Go for a spin?” he yelled as he used the momentum to spin the monster like pizza dough.

“Let me down!” the monster cried out.

Ethan shrugged, “Okay.” And threw him.

The monster landed on the ground in what looked like a painful way as the five Rangers surrounded him.

“That got him,” Ethan cheered, fist pumping.

“Help me load him up,” Dr. O instructed. The Rangers nodded at him, remembering the plan.

* * *

The sun was setting at they climbed onto the backs of their Raptors, their Cycles were still down for the count even though Hayley was working on them as fast as they could. Thankfully, they kept up easily with Dr. O’s new ATV (even with the added passenger of Insectollite) as they rode through the forest to where they had tracked that Trent was keeping the auxiliary Zords.

Julie pushed Stella to the side. They still hadn’t found he was keeping her.

“Come on, faster boy!” Conner called to his Raptor.

“You got this!” Julie said, cheering her’s on.

“We’re coming Zords,” Kira added.

“We’ll never make it,” Ethan said, looking back at their teacher.

“We have to,” Dr. O said, firmly.

The sun had completely set as they sent Dr. O and Insectollite forwards, the first stage of the plan.

“I don’t like this,” Julie said, gripping tightly to the reins of her Raptor.

“Everything will be fine,” Conner said. “Just trust-“

There was a loud explosion that shook the ground so bad they could barely stand.

“Come on!” Conner commanded, getting off his Raptor. The four Rangers stumbled through the dark on already shaky ground to join back up with Dr. O.

“Oh no!” Kira called as they caught sight of the giant dust cloud where the auxiliary Zords had once been.

“It can’t be,” Dr. Oliver said, stunned.

Two roars sounded and the auxiliary Zords walked out of the fog. Julie let out a relieved laugh.

“They made it!” she said.

“They survived!” Ethan added.

The ground started shaking again and Julie tried to figure out where it was coming from this time but couldn’t see anything through the thick trees and smoke.

“Over there!” Ethan cried out, pointing. She turned to see Trent’s MegaZord standing opposite the auxiliary Zords.

“DinoZords, attach.”

Julie’s jaw dropped as the MegaZord’s arms fell off and were replaced by both the CephaloZord and the DimetrodonZord – giving Trent’s MegaZord a punching arm _and_ a saw arm. She couldn’t help but gulp.

“Our Zords, they’ve switched teams!” Conner said, just as aghast.

“It’s another trick,” Dr. O insisted.

Trent laughed. “I thought they’d make a nice addition to my collection.”

“Why can’t you collect stamps or something!” Julie yelled.

However, he ignored her. “The starfish device was just to reprogram them to obey me.”

“You’re not gonna get away with this,” Dr. O said. “Brachio!” He called into his morpher.

Julie stayed on the ground with Dr. O as the other three Rangers jumped into their Zords to form the Thundersaurus MegaZord and face off against Trent in the dark. If she had the ability to, she would be biting her nails from the stress.

“Let’s make him pay,” she heard Conner say.

“You can’t afford it,” Trent replied. He used the Cephalo arm to punch the MegaZord once, twice, three times, knocking it off balance without her there with the StegoZord to steady them.

“DimetroZord, Saw Blade!” the White Ranger said.

Julie let out a scream, but Dr. Oliver held her back from rushing into the fight.

Trent’s next attack was enough to destabilize the Thundersaurus MegaZord and knocking it to the ground.

“Dr. O, what can we do?” she asked as the two groups of Rangers in the MegaZords argued back and forth.

The Black Ranger shook his head. “Nothing right now, we don’t want to chance him taking another one of the auxiliary Zords.”

Julie watched in horror as Trent lifted the DimetroZord arm, as if he were going to slice the Zords apart, only to be hit from behind as Insectollite showed back up – but thirty stories tall. She gripped their teacher’s arm tight as she jumped, excitedly.

“I’m back!” the monster called out with a laugh.

However, it didn’t last long as Trent sent his Drago Winger at him, hitting him in the chest. Insectollite fell to the ground and exploded into pieces.

“Another day, Rangers,” Trent said, dissolving into sparkles.

Julie groaned, “How does he do that?!”

* * *

“Trent has got some nerve,” Kira said the next morning as they gathered in the lab, exhausted. Julie yawned and slumped onto Conner who was also only barely holding himself in a sitting position. She had been up for over twenty-four hours now and she was tired.

“Why can’t he just give up?” Ethan asked, laying his head on Julie’s lap. The Pink Ranger gave his head a couple of pats before leaning her head against Conner’s shoulder.

“Good thing I never give up,” Hayley said, wiping oil off her hands as she walked in front of the sleepy Ranger pile. “Your bikes are fixed.”

“Hayley I could kiss you,” Julie mumbled.

“Yeah, you’re the best,” Conner added.

“Just don’t do it again, okay?” the red head instructed. “And, as an added bonus, I reprogrammed the ATV. It should come in handy.”

Dr. Oliver turned to them from where he had been pacing for the past hour. “We’re gonna need all the help we can get. If Trent and Mesogog team up for good, we’re gonna have a real battle on our hands.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta-da! That's all for today! Now, the next chapter is gonna be kind of weird - I've decided to start skipping a bunch of the filler episodes. If it doesn't have a major plot point, a new weapon or power, or I can't relate it to Julie in a way that gets me at least 3500 words, it's gone. We're skipping FOUR whole episodes next so get ready for Friday!


	17. Copy That

“Hey Julie? You in there?”

The Pink Ranger shook her head, shaking off the mental repetition of the list of everything that she still had to do as she was wiping down the tables at Cyberspace. She looked up, and around, before catching Conner and Kira looking at her and motioning her over to their table.

She sighed and slung the damp rag over her shoulder, the oversized button up she was wearing was already stained anyway so it honestly didn’t make a difference and walked over to her teammates.

“Hey guys,” she said. “Do you need something?”

The two other Rangers just looked at her confused, before a crash sounded behind them and they turned to see Ethan, laying on the ground, with a spilled platter of drinks in front of him.

Julie sighed. More messes.

“Clean up on aisle 5,” Conner said.

“Yeah,” Kira added. “Since when do you work here?” She asked Ethan. “Since when do you _both_ work here?”

“Hayley’s really been short-handed since Trent quit,” Ethan said, pushing himself to his feet. “Julie and I agreed to help her out for a bit.”

“The pocket change doesn’t hurt either,” Julie said with a grin.

“I guess kicking our butts has kept Trent a little busy these days,” Conner said, leaning onto the table and crossing his arms.

Julie threw her rag at Ethan to start cleaning up as the Blue Ranger replied, “No doubt.”

“I’m not saying it could be worse,” Julie started, “because we all know how that goes. But it definitely could be. At least he’s kind of chilled out since the whole fish thingie.”

“I’m honestly surprised you remember that,” Ethan said. “You’ve been really out of it the past few weeks, are you sure you’re okay?”

Julie waved him off. “I’m fine. Just a little overworked. I bit off more than I could chew with some extra credit and Justin has been making take virtual tours of colleges for after Italy, but I’m all good now.”

She should be, anyway. Ethan was right, it was like she had barely been around. Julie knew what had happened, which monsters they fought. She did know that Kira had been brainwashed by a bone at one point and Conner had a crisis over a really bad Japanese television show about them.

She had just been busy.

“Just know, we hold all rights to hold you down and make you take a nap, okay?” Conner said. “We can’t afford to be a Ranger down.”

She smiled back him, “Aww, you really do like me. But I know you would. What are friends for?”

“I hate to say this,” Kira said. “But I think you guys might’ve been right. Maybe there is no good left in Trent.”

“I wish I had the hope that you have in him Kira,” Julie replied. “But he’s just done so much bad _and_ he still has my Zord.”

“And all of the other Zords,” Ethan chipped in as he walked by them with a refilled tray.

“And all of the other Zords,” Julie conceded. “We’ll figure something out though, and soon. Trent can’t be evil forever.”

“Yeah, he could also die first,” Conner added in. The Pink Ranger slapped the back of his head as Kira put her face into her crossed arms on the table. “What? What did I say?”

* * *

 _“Come in Rangers, we got a situation,”_ Dr. O said over their comms a couple of hours later. Julie and Ethan had, thankfully, clocked out already and the four were now lounging on a couple of the couches in Cyberspace. Conner had actually convinced Julie to doze off for a minute, giving her his jacket as a pillow while he and Ethan studied for a Spanish test. _“I need you over at the city center right away.”_

“We’re on our way,” Conner said as the other three pulled themselves up.

Julie waved goodbye to Hayley with her hand that had the communicator on it so she would know something was up as the four Rangers left the building and went behind an abandoned train across the parking lot. She twisted her neck to pop it as Conner asked, “Ready?”

“Ready,” the others replied.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

“I wonder if it’s the thing that looks like a Stormtrooper and a bell pepper had a child,” Julie said as they skidded to a stop after finally locating the monster.

Conner sighed in her direction before putting on his ‘Red Ranger Voice’ for the monster, “All right, creep, we’re taking you down!”

“Oh yeah? Says who?” the monster said. Julie tried not to visibly recoil at its face. Were those spider legs attached to its mouth? “Here is a pepper for you!”

He chucked an oversized red pepper that he was holding at the Rangers, but Kira summoned her saber and knocked it back.

“I’m not supposed to have too many spicy foods. Thanks anyway,” she said as the pepper hit the monster and exploded.

Conner and Julie looked at each other, amazed at the other girl’s athleticism as Conner started clapping. Has Kira played a sport before? She had been good with the tennis rackets and the Donkeyvac a couple of months ago, after all.

Or maybe it was just a food thing.

“Then how about some seafood?” the monster asked, its red eyes glowing as he pulled a bunch of clamshells from somewhere. “This is what I call shell-shocked!”

“Seriously?” Julie asked as Ethan pulled out his saber and sliced all of the shells that were thrown in half before they could even get close to them, the remnants clattering on the floor.

“You’ll pay for that!”

“Tricera Shield!” Ethan yelled.

“That’s what I was waiting for!” the monster said. “Now here’s _my_ secret power.”

The four Rangers watched as typed at a few keys on the computer piece on his arm before shouting, “Copy… Tricera Shield!”

Julie was briefly blinded by a bright light, but as soon as it cleared, the monster was holding an exact copy of Ethan’s shield.

“No way!” the Blue Ranger said, confused.

There wasn’t much he could do as the monster pointed the tip of the shield at Ethan and fired its laser at him, knocking him to the ground. The others ran up to him and Kira and Conner helped up as Julie stood guard, watching to see what the monster would do next.

“That’s it!” Conner said. “Tyranno Staff!”

“Ptera Grips!”

“Oh no.”

“Copy!” the monster yelled.

She watched as copies of both of their weapons appeared in the monster’s hands and moved her hand away from her belt where she was about to summon her own axe.

They shouldn’t give him any more ammunition.

“He copied our weapons!” Conner said, surprised.

“That’s cheating!” Kira yelled.

“It’s one of Mesogog’s goons,” Julie replied, pulling Ethan up to his feet. “What did you expect? It to play fair?”

The monster then scuffed its foot on the floor and ran at them, catching them off guard. Kira tried to block with her grips, but was knocked back by the monster’s copy of them. The same thing happened to Conner – he was thrown back from the force of the copied staff.

Julie groaned and dropped into a fighting stance, trying to figure out how she could take him with just her fists and without any of her weapons. Could he copy the sabers? The blasters?

“Julie!”

“I know, I’m not going to,” she yelled back to Kira.

“Copy!”

_“Hi, I’m the Pink Ranger. Aren’t I cute?”_

Julie grabbed at her throat. “My voice!”

“Ooh that’s cold,” Ethan said.

“That’s enough!” Conner replied, pushing himself to his feet, ready to try and attack despite the fact that the monster had his weapon.

The monster laughed. “I agree! I have more important things to copy. See ya!” And then he ran off as the other three were trying to regain their footing.

“How are we gonna beat this guy?” Ethan asked.

“We start by finding him,” Kira insisted.

* * *

“The signals coming from right around here,” Conner said as they pulled off to a semi-wooded area. Julie swung her leg off her Raptor Cycle and looked around, trying to see if she could spot the monster.

“Then where is he?” Kira asked.

A laugh. “Looking for me?”

The four Rangers jumped around to see the copy monster. They immediately dropped into a fighting stance as he said, “I was picking peppers!” and threw two of his pepper bombs at them, causing them to roll out of the way or be hit by the exploding produce.

“Careful!” Ethan cautioned. “Remember, he can copy our weapons.”

“How do we fight him?” Kira asked.

Julie nodded. “It’s not like we can get close enough to hit him with our fists.

“I’ve got it!” Conner said. “We close up the head of the Z-Rex Blaster, he makes a copy of it, and it explodes.”

“Sneaky, I like it,” Ethan said.

“Wow that’s actually a really good plan,” the Pink Ranger added, sort of surprised.

“Let’s do it!”

“Are you done with your meeting over there?” the monster asked.

Conner held up his finger at the monster and if they weren’t in the middle of a fight, Julie would have fallen over laughing by now. “Just a minute!” The Red Ranger replied.

Before they even started putting their weapons together, he made sure to close the Tyranno head at the front of their blaster. Maybe this could actually work.

“Z-Rex Blaster!”

Julie grunted as she balanced the weight of the Blaster on her shoulders as she heard the monster shout, “Copy!”

“Here it comes guys,” Conner muttered.

“Z-Rex Blaster, ready to go! Oh, wait, I almost forgot,” the monster then reached up and _opened the mouth of the blaster_.

“Oh no!”

“Now it’s ready. Fire!”

In all of their afterschool Ranger training with Dr. O, they had never even thought about using their Z-Rex Blaster against each other. It would have been almost impossible to try, as it needed all four of their weapons to put it together and use.

Julie regretted not even attempting to however as they were hit with the blast of the Z-Rex Blaster and blown backwards into the river behind them.

No wonder they had shredded monsters to pieces with it.

The Pink Ranger tried her best to shake the water off of herself and clear off her visor as the monster said, “Now get up so I can blast you again!”

Then, “I don’t think so!” Dr. Oliver had shown up!

“Another one?” the monster asked confused.

Before they could warn him, Dr. Oliver summoned his staff to try and fight the monster, but yelled “Blade Strike!” before it could copy the Black Ranger’s weapon, stabbing his staff into the ground and sending a blast at the monster.

“Guys!” He yelled, running over to the four Rangers as they tried to gain their footing in the slippery riverbed. “Watch out!”

“I’ll take one of those,” she heard the monster say. Then, just as quickly, “Brachio Staff! Blade Strike!” and the monster sent the same blast at the five Rangers who were in the water, sending them flying once more.

“This is getting old,” Julie said as she tried to wipe the water from her visor with her wet gloves. “Is there anything he can’t copy?”

All of the Rangers were afraid to summon any weapons, wondering if it was going to come back to bite them, so they tried to fight the monster hand to hand, but that somehow, turned out even worse.

Julie lay on her back in the clearing, looking up at the sky after being thrown for what felt like the ten thousandth time and wondering if this fight would ever end, if it _could_ even end as Conner was thrown into a tree.

“How’s the dirt taste?” the monster asked, laughing.

The Red Ranger struggled to his feet, panting the whole time and Julie tried to follow his example, but the monster’s sudden screams of pain startled her.

She looked up and saw that, amazingly, Trent had come in on his ATV and was now firing on the monster and Julie groaned.

“Are we gonna have to fight him now too?” Ethan asked from a couple of feet over as he pushed himself in a sitting position. “I don’t think I have it in me.”

The five Rangers, however, stood up and stood in a line – watching as the evil Ranger turned back around and skidded to a stop, jumping off the ATV.

“Looks like you could use a little help,” he said.

Julie blinked in surprise as Trent pulled out his sword and did his normal speed run/slicing attack with his feather sword on the monster instead of them this time, causing it to spark. He went to hit it directly, but the monster pulled a copy of Trent’s sword out and blocked his strike, guarding against the White Ranger and knocking him back.

“Should we do something?” Julie asked. Dr. O shook his head.

“Let’s see how this plays out.”

“Did you hear his voice?” Kira asked. “That sounded like _Trent_ , not the robotic, evil Ranger.”

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Conner said. “Remember what happened last time he pretended to be good?”

The five nodded at each other before turning back to the fight, watching as the monster did the _same_ attack that Trent had just done on him – knocking him away and sending him into a tree.

“I wonder which side he’s on now,” Conner asked.

“It’s always his own,” Julie argued.

“Is that all you got?” the monster asked the White Ranger.

He stood up and brushed himself off, “Actually no. Super Dino Mode!”

“Oh great,” Ethan said with a sigh. “He gets one too?”

As he transformed, Julie couldn’t help but think about how bad this could go for them, knowing he’s reached whatever breaking point it was that unlocked his Super Dino Mode and, when he stopped, Julie felt faint.

The black marks on the seams of his uniform, his shoulder plate, and his boots all grew to be about one and a half feet long and he grew jagged _talons_ on his gloves. He looked very pointy and very painful and the Pink Ranger spotted two, no three, ways he could use it against them and cause them a world of hurt.

“Big deal,” the monster said before shooting of a purple blast, something they hadn’t seen before and Julie wondered who he had copied it from. Trent easily dodged the blast as the monster said, “Bye now!” and laughed.

“We’re not done yet!” Trent said as he legitimately _flew_ across the forest clearing, his talon hands to his side. He put them together and stabbed straight into the monster like one of his own arrows did into them. His momentum picked the monster up off of its feet and pinned him up against a tree about twenty years away.

“Should we do something now?” Kira asked once they got too far out of hearing range.

“I think he’s got it,” Julie said, crossing her arms. “We should honestly pack it in now, ya know, before he decides to turn on us.”

They heard the monster shout, “I thought we were on the same side!” and Trent replied, “Not anymore!”

“Is this another trick?” Conner asked.

“Weird,” Ethan added.

They watched from a distance as Trent pulled his stabby claws out of the monster and walked away from it exploding, looking cool, if not still extremely evil because of the spikes.

The sky got dark. “Oh. Here it grows.”

The monster grew reformed and grew thirty stories, yelling, “Copy this, Rangers!”

Dr. O wasted no time. “Brachio!”

Conner, Ethan, and Kira jumped into their Zords and quickly formed the Thundersaurus MegaZord while Julie stared across the clearing at Trent with her arms still crossed, waiting to see what he would do.

If he was really on their side now, he’d release her Zord, right?

She turned to say something to Dr. Oliver about using one of the auxiliary Zords, but before she could he was knocked to the ground. Julie shouted as Zeltrax appeared literally out of nowhere and pointed a sword at the Black Ranger.

“Get back, Zeltrax!” Trent yelled, using his quill sword to block the attack.

She couldn’t even blink before Trent knocked the robotic man back and into the dirt.

“What’s going on?” Dr. O asked the White Ranger, who ignored him in favor of running at Mesogog’s main goon.

Julie pulled her teacher to his feet as they stood and switched between watching the fight on the ground and the fight in the MegaZord, ready to step in if they needed to in either one.

“Okay,” Dr. O said brushing himself off. “Now I’m really confused.”

“That makes two of us,” the Pink Ranger replied, watching the evenly matched fight between their two enemies.

The monster was throwing exploding peppers at their teammates as Zeltrax and the White Ranger traded laser blasts, leaving Julie and Dr. Oliver in the middle of the two fights and not really able to do anything, which was not a position either Ranger liked to be in.

Thankfully, Dr. O was prepared as Trent was thrown over near them and jumped into the fight. Julie helped the White Ranger to his feet and he immediately jumped back in. Julie sighed and summoned her saber, ready to help if needed.

But it looked like the Black and White Rangers had it covered as Zeltrax tried to jump and do a double kick at Dr. Oliver, but _Trent_ did his _own_ double kick and knocked Zeltrax out of the fight and onto the ground.

“You will pay dearly for that, traitor,” Zeltrax said as he lifted his sword and summoned an Invisiportal and disappeared.

As soon as he was gone, Trent turned to them. “Are you okay?” he asked Dr. Oliver.

“What do you want?” the Black Ranger asked him.

Instead of replying, Trent powered down and unmorphed before walking over to them.

Julie dropped into a fighting stance as Dr. O held his hands out, “Stop right there!”

Surpringly, he stopped. “Dr. Oliver,” Trent started. “You’ve gotta listen to me.”

“We really don’t,” Julie replied, ready to fight. She barely heard the summons for the AnkyloZord, but she noticed her morpher change. She looked to her teammate, “Do you think you need backup for him?”

The Black Ranger paused for a moment before he shook his head, “Go. Help them.”

She nodded and, with one last look at Trent – just daring him to try something, jumped into the cockpit of the AnkyloZord as it joined up with the Thundersaurus MegaZord.

“How are things down there?” Conner asked as she locked in.

“I literally don’t even know what just happened,” she said. “I’ll tell you everything as soon as we beat this guy.”

The monster fired its laser at the MegaZord, but they blocked it and sent it straight back to him with the spinning AnkyloZord arm.

Before the monster could regain its bearings, the Rangers shouted, “Double Drill Attack!”

The MegaZord lifted both of its arms, the Tyranno arm and the Ankylo arm, and they started spinning in opposite directions before they slashed once, twice, three, four times – hitting the monster on each strike.

The Copy Monster stumbled and exploded as he fell to the ground.

Julie just wondered how Dr. O and Trent were doing.

* * *

“Anyone know why Dr. O wanted us to meet him here?” Ethan asked as he pulled down on the Dino jaw that gave them entrance to the lab from the Murder Caves.

“I just want to know why we couldn’t come in through his house like civilized people,” Julie couldn’t help but say.

“He said something about a big surprise,” Kira said with a shrug as the doorway started to open.

Revealing Trent, standing in the middle of the lab.

“Hey guys,” he said.

The four Rangers immediately dropped into fighting stances. Julie’s mind was racing, how did he get in? But Trent put his hands up, placatingly.

“How did you get in here?” Conner asked, his voice dripping with venom as none of them relaxed their stances.

“I let him in,” Dr. Oliver said, spinning around in his computer chair.

“Excuse me?” Julie asked. “But he’s-“

“On our side now,” Dr. O interrupted.

Ethan scoffed. “Yeah right. Every time we hear that, he burns us. Why should we believe him now?”

Julie hadn’t really noticed how she, Conner, and Ethan kept to one side while Kira walked on the other – Trent separating the two groups, until then. Her heart hurt for the other girl, who was still _desperately_ trying to find a shred of hope that Trent was actually _good_.

“Because,” Dr. O started. “He saved my life.”

“Is that true?” Conner asked, turning to the boy in white.

Trent nodded. “Yeah.” He sighed. “I’m in control of the Dino Gem now.”

“And we’ve heard that before,” Julie replied, crossing her arms. “How can we know for sure?”

“I want to use it to fight _with_ you,” Trent explained.

“And you have been fighting _with_ us,” Ethan replied. “You’ve fought _with_ us all over town.”

The White Ranger sighed. “I mean, fight on your team. Against Mesogog.”

Julie crossed her arms as Dr. Oliver said, “I wouldn’t have brought him here if I didn’t think he was telling the truth.” He sighed. “But only you can decide whether or not you trust him.”

All of the Rangers exchanged glances and Julie knew exactly where this was going, even if she didn’t want it to.

“Well, if Dr. O’s down with it,” Ethan suggested. “Then I guess I’m onboard, too.”

“Yeah,” Conner said, raising his eyebrows and looking at Trent skeptically. “I guess we got no choice, considering I’m kinda tired of fighting you.”

Julie stayed silent, hoping her face showed her complete and utter disdain at the idea, but she knew when she was outnumbered.

Trent, however, let out a relieved sigh and turned towards Kira who he had honestly hurt the most with his actions and walked over to her, but Julie knew she was going to crumble like a dry cake when she glimpsed the little smile on her face.

“Look, I know I got a lot to make up for,” Trent started, facing the Yellow Ranger, “But I promise, this time I won’t let you down.”

“Well, I guess everyone deserves one last chance,” Kira replied.

Julie held in her groan, staying silent as she was clearly overruled by every other Ranger.

“But isn’t there a rule that says newbie Rangers have to wash all the Zords?” Kira added.

She could hear the smirk in Ethan’s voice as he replied, “Oh hey, I forgot about that rule.”

“ _Except_ the StegoZord,” Julie said. “No one is getting near Stella anymore, except me. Capiche?”

“The Zords?” Trent asked, a smile on his face and completely ignoring Julie which _did not_ bode well for their relationship, but she would let it slide for now. “But they’re gigantic.”

The others loaded him up with cleaning supplies and Julie couldn’t help but smirk as she handed him a particularly large bottle of cleaner and watched as his arm sunk under the unexpected weight.

“Yeah they are,” Conner conceded, “So, better get started.”

“There’s some dirt in a lot of the cracks,” Julie said, baring her teeth in a grin. “I mean, since you knocked them into the ground so good, after all.”

The other three Rangers grinned as Trent shuffled off towards their Zord bay, but Julie stayed still, her arms crossed, and shouted after him, “Remember! _Don’t touch Stella_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, as you can see I definitely started to skip some filler chapters to focus more on the actual plot. I hope you enjoyed!


	18. Triassic Triumph

Julie carefully maneuvered between the crowded tables of Cyberspace with her full tray, kind of regretting not quitting when Ethan did. Hayley had been ecstatic when Trent asked if he could work there again, but the popularity of Cyberspace was only growing so it made sense for her to stay on.

She would also never tell anyone that it was because she didn’t trust Trent to not up and leave again, no matter how likely it would be. It had only been a couple of days and, while the other Rangers had easily fallen into trusting the once-evil Ranger, Julie held no such reservations about him.

So, she waited, and she watched the other boy, waiting for him to trip up and to prove her _right_.

But, Hayley did seem less stressed so at least his presence did something for the team.

Julie smiled at the other Rangers as they came in to the café and, after dropping off a table’s drink orders, she made her way over to them and leaned against the counter next to Kira.

“Someone looks happy,” Conner said to Hayley, who was happily polishing glassware.

How anyone could be happy doing that, Julie didn’t know.

“Oh hey!” the woman greeted. “It’s just so good to have Trent back, and Julie staying on it’s like we actually have a staff here.”

“You know I do what I can to help,” Julie said with a grin.

“I bet it helps with Trent’s new attitude adjustment,” Conner said with a smirk. “He’s almost likeable.”

“I wouldn’t push it, Ball Boy,” Julie said from the opposite end. “He’s barely tolerable.”

“I heard that.” Julie watched as Conner’s face was panicked for a moment as Trent slapped his back in a buddy-buddy kind of way and she just stared him down, daring him to come close to her, but he stopped next to her and spoke to Hayley instead, “Two more Cyber Berry Blasts, please.”

The redhead gave him a pleased smile as she turned to make the requested drinks.

“So how’s it going?” Conner asked him.

“Fantastic,” Trent replied. “I feel like a new man.”

“We’re just glad the _old_ man is back,” Kira said to him, a smile on her face. Julie rolled her eyes and ducked out of the way of the two and made her way to the other end to sit next to Conner. “You’re one of us now,” the Yellow Ranger continued. “No more secrets.”

She snorted quietly and the Red Ranger elbowed her, but she just shook it off.

Hayley gave the White Ranger his drinks before turning to her, “Julie, you’re good to go. I know you’ve got a paper.”

The Pink Ranger smiled. “Try three papers but thank you. Justin’s out of town so I’ll just stay here if that’s cool?”

“Yeah, we were about to work on stuff ourselves,” Ethan said. “And he’s out of town again?”

Julie nodded. “Justin loves me, but he’s not super comfortable around Ranger action, especially since Mesogog has ramped it up recently. It was tough on him as a kid and he had to have years of therapy to even begin working through it. So, he just leaves money for take-out and heads to the main office of Turbo X in Stone Canyon every few weeks.”

“Ahh yeah, party at Julie’s!” Conner cheered. She shoved him off the stool he was sitting on so the foursome could make their way to the table.

“You wish. We don’t have time for parties and you know it,” she replied.

Julie grabbed her overstuffed backpack from behind the counter and sat at the table, bringing out her laptop to start looking up sources on her Government paper. Thankfully, she got permission to do it on her own otherwise she’d be stuck in another group with Ethan and Trent.

And she _really_ couldn’t handle that right now.

“Let’s go,” Ethan said to Trent a couple of hours later as the boy picked a couple of empty glasses off of their table. “That report ain’t gonna write itself.”

“I’ll catch up with you at the library,” Trent said to him. The two fist-bumped and he got back to work.

“If you need help, let me know,” Julie said to the Blue Ranger. “I still have a couple of sources I didn’t use.”

The Blue Ranger looked at her thankfully as Conner stood up, staring across the room.

“What’s his deal?” he asked.

Julie looked up to see him looking at a guy with floppy hair and a white track jacket saying goodbye to a group of girls and rolled her eyes. Cassidy and Devin walked up to the kid and stuck a camera in his face as she turned to her friend.

“He’s an exchange student,” she explained. “Alexi something. He plays soccer.”

They watched as Alexi Something looked panicked and unlatched Cassidy from his arm, which was a feat in and of itself considering the girl's talon-like grip, and rushed out.

“She’s never cared about soccer before,” Conner said to them, still watching the guy leave as a bunch of girls followed him out. “At least she’s never wanted to interview me.”

“Someone’s looking a little more Green than Red,” Ethan said with a smirk. Kira and Julie exchanged looks and laughed.

“I’m not jealous,” Conner argued, you know, like a liar. “It’s just, if he’s that good, he should be on a club team.” He was quiet for a minute. “I’m gonna go see if he’s joined up with anyone.”

He walked off, quickly trying to catch up with he other guy as the other three started laughing.

“Jealous,” Ethan said.

“So jealous,” Kira replied through her laughter.

“Come on,” Julie said, shoving her stuff in her bag. “Let’s catch up to him. I need a break from the inside.”

* * *

“Don’t you think it was rude?” Conner asked later as they were walking downtown, stretching their legs. “I mean, he doesn’t even think about it – he just _walks_ away.”

“Actually, he biked away,” Julie added with a grin. “But maybe he had somewhere to be.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he’s got a good reason,” Kira said, elbowing the other girl in the side. “Why don’t you just ask him again?”

Ethan shook his head, “Look, I’d love to stay and hash this out with you guys, but if I don’t get to the library soon, I’m totally gonna fail this project.” He bro-slapped Conner on the shoulder before turning to Julie. “Do you wanna come? I figure you have more stuff to do.”

“I’m good,” she said. “I’d rather study in a sewer than study with Trent.”

“Ouch, that’s harsh,” the Blue Ranger said as he started to back away, only to stop as a familiar voice came out of nowhere.

“Then prepare to fail, Blue Ranger,” Zeltrax said, stepping out of the shadows.

The four of them slid into fighting stances as Ethan said, “I knew I should’ve gone straight there.”

Zeltrax lifted his arm and _snapped_ and the four Rangers turned around at the noise rushing at them from behind.

Julie couldn’t see anything as whatever it was blurred past them, slicing them unmorphed with whatever weapon it had. It’s blur and attacks were very similar to the White Ranger’s and Julie tried not to see red. Did Trent lie to them? Again??

The four fell to the ground in pain and Julie lifted her head to see Trent and a monster that looked like a strange cross between the White Ranger and Zeltrax standing next to the Ren. Faire Reject himself.

“Didn’t even break a sweat,” Trent said, haughtily.

“I told you guys!” Julie argued. “I knew we couldn’t trust him!”

“Trent?” Kira asked, confused.

“This can’t be real,” Ethan said, looking at Trent in shock.

Zeltrax laughed. “Oh, it’s real.”

“What are you doing, Trent?” Conner asked standing up. Julie and the others pushed themselves to their feet along with him, the Pink Ranger cracking her knuckles.

“I don’t know a Trent,” the White Ranger replied. “I just know that you will soon be destroyed.”

“I’m so not in the mood for this,” Conner said. “Ready?”

“Ready.”

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

The four Rangers and three bad guys stood across from each other and waited, until Zeltrax stepped forward and pulled his shield out. “Wait! Allow me!” and stepped forward into the brawl. Julie watched as the White Ranger and the monster jumped to the stairwell to watch the fight.

“Fire!” Conner yelled as he fired his blaster at Zeltrax, only for the robot to block it with his shield easily. He then swung his shield around and held out his hand, sending a blast of blue lightning at Conner and hitting him directly.

The other three jumped to his defense. “Lasers!” they called, firing their blasters as well as Zeltrax rushed them, but he simply held his shield up in front of his face to block their strikes. He jumped into the air and summoned his sword once he got close enough.

Julie tried to dodge, but Zeltrax was strong and while he hit Kira with his sword, he kicked her and pushed her aside.

Conner stepped back and actually managed to land a hit on the robot, before Zeltrax _picked him up with one hand and threw him_.

“Conner!”

“Are you okay?” Kira asked.

“Yep,” the Red Ranger said as he pushed himself up.

The four Rangers didn’t have a chance to attack as Zeltrax held up his hand and shot another bolt of blue lightning at them, sending them backwards.

“Now you’re mine,” Zeltrax taunted, pointing his sword like he was about to joust them, but they were all still on the ground.

“Conner, catch!” Ethan yelled. Julie watched as he and Kira threw their blasters at the Red Ranger while she held her own up.

While Conner jumped up into the air and fired both blasters at Zeltrax, she fired up at Mesogog's goon from her spot on the ground. Thankfully, Zeltrax was in no position to defend against them and between the three constant laser blasts, he was thrown twenty feet back and landed roughly on the ground.

Then, the two enemies from before jumped back down to join the fight as the other three Rangers struggled to their feet.

“So you stopped Zeltrax,” the White Ranger who may or may not be Trent said. “Try to stop my Terrorsaurus!”

“Let me show you the extent of my powers,” the monster said, slowly walking towards them. “You _will_ be defeated.”

“Not on my watch!”

Everyone, not just the Rangers, turned to see Actually Maybe Trent riding on his ATV and firing his lasers at the Terrorsaurus, which was named appropriately if Julie could be honest. Zeltrax got up just in time to be hit by the lasers and the three monsters were flung to either side as Maybe Trent drove through them and skidded to a stop in front of the other Rangers.

“Hey guys,” he said, hopping off. “Thought I’d join the fun.”

“Wait, who’s who?” Ethan asked, pointing confusedly from one White Ranger to the other.

“Guys, it’s me,” new White Ranger replied.

“Enjoy your reunion while you can,” the White Ranger fighting with Zeltrax started. “Nothing you do can stop us now!”

The three of Mesogog’s goons disappeared into an Invisiportal as the White Ranger still with them powered down.

Julie powered down herself, but hung back as the other three Rangers ran over to Trent.

“You guys okay?” he asked.

“Great,” Conner replied. “You got a twin brother you never told us about?”

Trent didn’t reply immediately and Julie just _knew_ this was going to be an issue.

* * *

“Okay,” Kira started once they got to Dr. O’s lab, trips to the library long forgotten. “So, we barely get one White Ranger under control, then another one shows up. Any idea who it could be?”

Julie slowly spun around in her chair as she watched Kira pace in the middle of the room and turn to Trent, who was also in the middle of the room, and ask her question. Trent sighed and shook his head.

“I have no clue.” Julie rolled her eyes but, thankfully, no one was paying attention to her.

“My sensors show some kind of cloned energy force,” Dr. Oliver said, turning away from the computer. “It’s probably not even a living being at all.”

“Yeah, he may not be alive but his kick sure felt real,” Conner snarked.

Dr. O turned to him. “I never said he wasn’t real. He’s a threat, all right.”

“What about the other intensely scary thing?” Julie asked.

“Yeah,” Ethan said. “What was with the Terrorsaurus? Man, was he raggedy.”

“He looked like Zeltrax and Trent – whoops – Zeltrax and the White Ranger clone had a demon baby,” Julie said, changing her words mid-sentence as Kira cut a look at her from across the room.

“He’s giving off some of the same readings as the Other White Ranger,” Dr. O explained. “It’s almost like they were one and the same.”

Conner pushed himself off the desk. “I knew it,” he started as he walked towards Trent. “You should never have been here in the first place.”

Trent stood up to try and defend himself as Kira slid in front of him, ready to stand in his way, but Dr. O caught up to Conner before he could send a punch at the other boy and held him back. Ethan grabbed Julie and pulled her to the middle of the room as well.

“Not now, Conner,” Dr. Oliver tried to reason. “We’re gonna need backup, big time.” He let go of the Red Ranger’s shoulder. “Trent, come with me. Let’s go.”

The Black Ranger started to walk away, but Conner called out to stop him. “Wait, why not me? Or any of the others?”

“I agree with him,” Julie added.

“You’ll have your role to play in this, Conner,” Dr. Oliver said. “Trust me, right now, I need Trent. Keep an eye on the city, and call us if that thing returns.”

He and Trent turned to leave, leaving the other four Rangers staring after them.

* * *

Conner actually left after about an hour of waiting in the lab to blow off some steam while Julie, Kira, and Ethan remained, taking to monitoring the city watch system in shifts to not lost their minds.

“Why are you and Conner so against Trent?” Kira asked once she gave up the reins to Ethan.

Julie looked up from her battered novel for her required English reading and blinked at the girl, confused at the sudden question.

“I don’t know about Conner’s reasonings,” she finally said, taking her time. “But Trent already fooled us once. Fool me shame on you, fool me twice-“

“-Shame on me,” Kira finished. She sighed. “I know you feel that way, but I think he’s really actually good this time.”

Julie snorted. “Kira, do you know how many therapists there are that are certified and able to be secret enough to deal with Power Rangers?”

The Yellow Ranger was stunned. “No I… I can’t say that I do.”

“Three,” Julie replied simply. “Out of everyone that has ever been associated or adjacent with the Power Rangers, there are only three who are qualified and licensed therapists. One is in Mariner Bay and deals exclusively with the Lightspeed and what’s left of the Time Force team. The second is Aisha Campbell, the second Yellow Ranger who lives in _Africa_. The third is a man who spent over a year as a guinea pig.”

“What does that have to do with-“

“These three people, two if you don’t count the one in Mariner Bay are the only psychological help that the Rangers get, and most don’t even get in contact with them until after their team disbands and their big bad defeated,” Julie explained. “Me? I’ve been talking with Aisha for two months through shaky video chats because I woke Justin up with a nightmare that we all died fighting the White Ranger.”

It was a lot more than that, over weeks instead of just nights. Julie had tried to keep as quiet as she could once the nightmares had started to not bother her brother, but after waking up three nights in a row to him in her bed, consoling her he had gotten in touch with Aisha and she had started Ranger Therapy earlier than any other Ranger had.

Kira stared at her, shocked, as Ethan turned around in his chair to also stare at them.

“That’s why he leaves, isn’t it?” Ethan asked. “Not because he can’t handle the Ranger stuff, but-“

“No, he really can’t handle the Ranger stuff,” Julie replied. “He puts on a good act, but he can’t really be involved. He was Aisha’s first patient once she got her license and he still talks to her on a regular basis, even more so now. No, he spends all the time in Stone Canyon because he can’t bare to see _me_ in pain.”

Before the other two could ask her anymore questions, the alert system started going off. Ethan turned back around to start trying to ping the location as Kira wrapped her arms around the Pink Ranger in a tight hug. Julie returned it, squeezing just as tightly.

“I understand, and I’m sorry,” Kira whispered. “I won’t push anymore.”

Julie nodded. “Thank you, Kira, really.”

The two separated as Ethan said, “Someone ping Conner, looks like we got some action going on downtown.”

* * *

Conner showed up thirty minutes after Julie called him on the communicator, out of breath as if he ran the whole way there. The other three Rangers were staring in shock at the screen.

“What’s up?” the Red Ranger asked as he hurried up to them.

“Our problem just got a lot bigger,” Kira explained.

Julie hadn’t been able to turn away from the fittingly-named Terrorsaurus who was now thirty stories tall.

More nightmare fuel, that was.

“He’s in the woods outside of town,” Ethan explained.

“So, what are we waiting for?” Conner asked. “Let’s go!”

“Our orders, remember?” Kira replied. “Dr. O said to call him and Trent if that guy showed up again.”

Conner scoffed. “Yeah, but why? It’s obvious they’ve got something important to do. We can handle this. Come on.”

Ethan and Julie looked over at Kira, the one who had been insistent on sticking with the plan. It took the other girl a couple of moments before she sighed. “Okay, but the minute things get ugly, we call for backup.”

“Sure,” Conner said quickly, as if she would change her mind.

“Let’s do it,” Ethan said standing up. “We’ll call the Zords from here.”

“Ready?”

“Ready!”

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

Julie almost fell back at the insistent presence of her StegoZord, back in her mind once more. She couldn’t understand anything Stella was saying, but she was very insistent on checking in on _her_ and seeing if _she_ was okay.

The Pink Ranger was thankful for her helmet as she cried, overjoyed at having her friend back in her headspace, and was also grateful that Stella hadn’t made herself known in their fight with Zeltrax earlier or she would have been an _absolute_ wreck.

The four of them quickly formed the Thundersaurus MegaZord, the StegoZord taking its familiar place as the sturdy legs as they made their way to where they had last tracked the Terrorsaurus.

“Where is he?” Ethan asked.

“Something’s wrong,” Conner said, worriedly.

Julie bit her lip and looked around worriedly as the sky darkened and lightning hit the ground, setting off some kind of explosion that let off lots of smoke.

Out of smoke, came the Cephalo and Dimetrodon Zords.

“What are they doing?” Julie asked, confused.

Two bubbles incased the Zords and carried them away.

“A trap!” Kira cried.

They followed the floating Zords and turned to see the Terrorsaurus uncamouflage itself and absorb the stolen Zords.

“And you fell for it,” it said to them.

The MegaZord tried to get ready to fight, but the Terrorsaurus used its immense speed and rushed past them in a blur, striking them when they were unable to defend themselves against it.

“This got old months ago,” Julie said through gritted teeth as she lowered her center of gravity, trying to help regain the MegaZord’s footing now that her and Stella were back in control of it.

She stopped them from toppling over, but the amount of damage the monster was doing was too much and before she could blink, Julie and the others were thrown out of the MegaZord and onto the ground. Their Zords, now on their own, followed after them and Julie was surprised that they weren’t crushed by them.

“Now you’re mine!” they heard Terrorsaurus say. Julie watched as he summoned four of the bubbles that trapped their auxiliary Zords and sent them at their regular Zords.

“No!” Julie cried, attempting to reach out as the presence of the StegoZord in her mind went dark once again as the Zord went offline once the bubble formed around it.

The Rangers watched in shock as it absorbed their Zords as well, leaving them defenseless.

Out of nowhere, Conner cried out in pain. “I’m getting a weird feeling,” he said. “Something… something is calling me.”

“Conner? You okay?” Kira asked.

The Red Ranger let go of his helmet and said, “Oh. Gnarly.” He didn’t look like he had just had a major migraine and, in fact, stood straighter and towered over the rest of them more than he usually did.

“Is everything okay?” Julie asked, worriedly, her head flipping back and forth between checking on her teammate and watching the giant Terrorsaurus.

“I think so,” Conner replied. He opened his mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by the roar of the Terrorsaurus.

They turned back to the monster and watched as it shrunk itself and flew over to where they had landed in the quarry. It landed directly in front of them and Julie dropped into her fighting stance.

“Your head too big for your helmet?” Terrorsaurus asked.

“What have you done with our Zords?” Conner asked, stepping forward.

“You should be more worried about what I will do to you,” it replied with a laugh. “Your Zords belong to me now!”

Julie heard the faint cry of her StegoZord, begging for help, as the monster said. “Now it’s time for your demise!” and grew _wings_ and _flew directly at them_!

“In your dreams,” Conner replied. As if they shared one brain, all of the Rangers pulled out their blasters and yelled “Fire!” shooting at the monster.

It did nothing to stop it however as it flew through them, knocking them to the ground.

“Heads up!” Ethan called as it turned back around. Julie screamed as it picked the Blue Ranger up by his neck and carried him up and across the quarry before dropping him in a giant mud puddle. The other three ran up to him to try and help.

They pulled him shakily to his feet and stepped in front of him as he tried to regain his strength.

“What is up with this guy?” Conner asked.

Terrorsaurus landed in front of them with a laugh. “You are powerless against me!” it cried.

“Let’s try our sabers,” the Red Ranger suggested.

“It couldn’t hurt,” Julie said, summoning it.

The four split up in different directions, Kira running at the monster from the front, Conner from the left, Ethan from the right, and Julie from behind it, thinking that it couldn’t defend against all of them at once.

They all reared back at the same time and went to strike, but Terrorsaurus _teleported_ out of the way and they all hit each other.

Julie screamed as she fell to the ground after getting Ethan’s saber straight to the chest, her sword falling from her hands.

They weren’t on the ground long as Terrorsaurus sent a blast at them from something Julie couldn’t even figure out and they were sent flying across the clearing.

“Maybe we should’ve waited for Dr. O,” Conner admitted as he tried to struggle to his feet.

“Ya think?” Ethan asked.

“Prepare to be destroyed!” Terrorsaurus said, leisurely stalking towards them with no care at all.

Julie tried to push herself to her feet, to try and defend against the monster, but it fired a burning red laser out of its eyes at their defenseless selves, causing an explosion that threw them over the side of the quarry.

The Pink Ranger screamed and closed her eyes as they crash landed in the lake.

* * *

“That was a great idea Conner,” Kira said once they had managed to shakily swim to shore. Julie crawled out of the water and laid on the bank, closing her eyes and trying to catch her breath.

“0 out of 10, do not recommend,” she said through gasps. “What are we gonna do?”

“Got anymore brilliant ideas?” Ethan asked.

Or he tried, before Conner held up his hand and yelled, “Wait! It’s happening again.”

Julie opened her eyes and watched as he clutched his helmet. “Something… something isn’t right,” he finally said.

“I could’ve told you that,” she said, sitting up.

“What do you mean?” Kira asked.

“I can’t explain it,” Conner said. “I just know Trent and Dr. O need me.”

The Red Ranger fully pushed himself to his feet and sped off, leaving the other three Rangers still laying on the ground.

* * *

Conner showed back up twenty minutes later right as Julie managed to catch her breath and stand up.

“Where’d you-“

“No time!” he said, interrupting her. “We’ve gotta hold off Terrorsaurus for just a little bit longer. Dr. O and Trent found something.”

They tried asking questions as they ran through Reefside to get to where Terrorsaurus was, but Conner didn’t answer a single one – focusing all of his attention on finding the monster. She had to admire his dedication, but Julie was worried that they’d end up in a worse place than the quarry lake.

Mainly, the afterlife because they'd be _dead_.

Finally, they saw the bubbles that were holding their Zords over Reefside Bay, which meant they found the monster who was, in fact, standing on top of a building in a parking lot that overlooked the Bay and twirling an invisible mustache like the villain he was.

“Hey!” Conner called, grabbing its attention once they climbed to the roof. “Looking for us?”

Julie and the others summoned their sabers and shouted, “Charge!” Running with them at the monster from the same direction, learning from their mistake last time.

However, they weren’t quick enough as the monster did the speeding blur trick, hitting them with little effort because they couldn’t see to defend themselves.

One of the blows threw Ethan, who still hadn’t recovered from being dropped thirty feet from earlier, and he landed hard on the ground, but the others ran over to him and got ready to guard him as Julie helped the Blue Ranger to his feet.

“Terrorsaurus laser!” the monster yelled. He held out both hands and, instead of directing the laser at them through his eyes, he directed it to his hands. Two tendrils of the burning laser from each and hit each of the Rangers, sending them flying off the building and into the parking lot itself.

“Here I come!” the monster said, flexing.

“Tyranno Staff!” Conner said in return, summoning his weapon. He leaped forward and actually hit the monster once, twice, three times but Terrorsaurus didn’t even flinch before he grabbed the staff and used it to throw Conner to the side.

Ethan summoned his shield next and jumped, ready to strike, but Terrorsaurus stepped out of the way and grabbed the shield, using it to throw Ethan in the same direction it threw Conner.

“Finished?” it asked. Kira and Julie nodded at each other.

“Not even close,” the Yellow Ranger yelled back, pulling out her blaster and firing at the monster. Julie summoned her axe and got a running jump, lifting it high above her head to smack down on the monster, but he grabbed it and her out of the air and threw her into the same pile as the boys.

“That tickles,” it said as all of Kira’s blasts just glanced off of it like water off a duck’s back. Julie and the boys got to their feet right as Terrorsaurus kicked Kira and sent her across the lot.

“You all right?” Ethan asked as they went to stand in front of the fallen Yellow Ranger.

“Yeah,” she groaned, pushing herself to her feet. “What is with this guy?”

They didn’t have much time to breath before, “How about an encore!” and Terrorsaurus fired its burning lasers at them _again_ , sending them to the ground.

“First, I took your Zords,” it said, gloating. “Now, I will destroy you!”

Julie tried as hard as she could to push herself to her feet, or even up, but her body had completely given out on her. This was it, this was the end.

“Come on Conner,” Ethan called. “Pull it together!”

“I’m not gonna take it,” the Red Ranger grunted, somehow finding the strength to push himself up. The others clawed their way up, Julie groaning the entire time. “Attack!”

With some semblance of hope and a prayer, Julie threw herself back into the fray and could only wish for something good to happen. Hopefully, Conner had found Dr. O and he was sending some kind of backup because she didn’t know how much more she’d be able to take.

“Alright,” Conner said as they were thrown to the ground _again_. “I think it’s time for Super Dino Mode!”

Julie felt the armored plates grow across her body and felt a little more secure than she did a minute ago, her Super Dino Mode transformation allowing her a minute to breathe.

It was like they were a whole new team, once they were fully transformed. The Power and strength that they had been missing came forward, rushing to their bodies from their morphers.

“It won’t matter!” Terrorsaurus declared.

“Don’t bet on it,” Conner replied. “Charge!”

The four of them ran towards the monster and jumped into the air, only to be knocked to the ground by his burning lasers. Thankfully, neither their Super Dino Mode or their morph broke when they landed.

Small favors.

“Power Rangers,” Terrorsaurus started, “Let me be the first to tell you, you’re doomed.”

“I don’t think you’re actually the first,” Julie groaned.

“We’re not done yet,” Conner said with some kind of energy that she didn’t even know someone could possess after they’ve had the floor wiped with them as bad as they have.

The monster laughed. “Oh no?”

As Conner stood up, Terrorsaurus fired a blue crackling light at him that wrapped him up and carried him over to the monster.

“I have you now Red Ranger,” Terrorsaurus said. He let the energy drop, only to grab him by the shoulder and throw him into the side of the building.

When he crash landed to the ground, the other three ran over to him.

“Conner no!” Julie cried, bending down to check on him.

“Are you all right?” Ethan asked, urgently as Terrorsaurus stalked towards them.

“You will learn respect, my little pets,” it said as Julie pulled Conner to his feet.

A burst of air hit Terrorsaurus, distracting him as Dr. Oliver ran up. His Brachio Staff in one hand and a blank shield in the other.

“Not so fast, vile reptile!” the Black Ranger said.

If Julie would have had any more strength, she would’ve made fun of him for the remark, but she didn’t get the chance as Terrorsaurus yelled, “Lasers!” again.

Julie held her arms up, ready to try and deflect some of the blast, but was surprised when it didn’t even hit her at all! Dr. O had blocked it with the shield!

“Not this time!” he said, his feet slipping a little from the force, but he stood firm. Then, he pushed the shield forward and _sent the blast right back to the monster_!

Terrorsaurus clearly wasn’t expecting it as he was hit directly and knocked back, but as soon as the smoke started to clear, Dr. O fell to the ground.

“Oh god not now,” Julie muttered as she bent down to check on their teacher.

However, he handed the shield out to the Red Ranger and said, “Conner, you know what to do.”

He took the shield from him with a nod. “Kira, Ethan, Julie – I need your total trust.” He sighed. “I need your Dino Powers.”

Julie gasped as he turned to them one by one and asked if they trusted him and in him enough to give up their Powers.

He turned to her last and her legs shook. “Julie?”

“You know I do, Ball Boy,” she said with a finality she had been grasping with all day.

Conner held the shield aloft and yelled, “Triassic Power, engage!” as the other three Rangers pushed their Powers out of them and into the shield.

Julie watched with baited breath as the mix of Blue, Yellow, and Pink energies filled out the shield and changed Conner, his helmet got a gold laurel around it quickly followed by two, shiny gold shoulder guards. The white diamonds on his suit turned purple with yellow and black outlines ad the dino foot in the center of his chest crew two more spikes.

He looked terrifying, and _strong_.

Julie collapsed to the ground, not even able to hold herself up like Kira and Ethan had, as her morph broke. She was exhausted, but with Kira’s help was able to get to her feet.

It was Conner’s turn to leisurely walk to the monster, his new shield in his left hand and he looked more sure of himself than he had ever had as he said, “You’re in deep trouble now.”

“Bring it!” Terrorsaurus cried.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Conner smugly said. “Shield of Triumph, Activate!”

He held the Sheild out and, in a mass of sparks, disappeared and took Terrorsaurus with him.

“Where’d he go?” Julie asked, worried.

“Into the Grid,” Dr. O said as he stumbled over to them.

“The _Morphing_ Grid?” Ethan questioned, alarmed. Their teacher nodded.

It didn’t take long before Conner and Terrorsaurus reappeared in front of them, the other Rangers using each other to hold themselves up.

He looked strong and foreboding as the Terrorsaurus was sparking.

“Game over!” the Red Triassic Ranger yelled.

“No!” the monster cried, reaching out as if to try and attack, but he fell forward and exploded.

When the dust cleared, Conner was the only one left standing.

* * *

“That shield _rocks_ ,” Ethan said later as they walked down the steps of Dr. Oliver’s house to lab.

“It more than rocks,” Julie said.

“Thanks for trusting me with your powers, guys,” Conner said gratefully.

“It’s only a loan,” Ethan said. “Don’t forget that. And anything to get our Zords back.”

“I just wish you could’ve felt what it was like,” the Red Ranger said. “The Power is _amazing_.”

Dr. Oliver walked up behind them. “The Triassic power was always meant for you, Conner,” he said. “All you had to do was trust in yourself, then it was easy for others to trust in you, too.”

“See? All that jealously?” Ethan asked. “And look how great everything worked out.”

“From someone who wanted to quit from day one to the most powerful Ranger,” Julie said with a grin. “Look at you now, Ball Boy.”


	19. A Star is Torn

The first thing that happened when Julie opened her bedroom door that morning was a loud _pop_ sound and a small cannon of confetti was shot into her face.

“Happy birthday, Little Pain!”

The Pink Ranger sputtered and tried to spit out the small pieces of plastic while her brother stood there, in her doorway, with a giant smile on his face and holding the empty confetti cannon. He was already fully dressed and exceedingly chipper, despite it being 4 in the morning and him having just got in from a business trip in Turtle Cove.

“Mine was still better,” she replied, picking one last piece off of her tongue. She didn’t even want to _think_ about the amount of mess that was probably in her hair and, as she pulled her hand away to shake some remnants off, she caught sight of actual _glitter_. “This was a nice touch though, 7 out of 10.”

“Sorry I didn’t spray you with water and dump a bucket of feathers on you too, Jules, but I was on a time crunch,” Justin said, opening his arms for a hug. Julie grinned and folded herself into her older brother and squeezed him as hard as she could.

So sue her, of course she would be expecting some major payback from him since that was _exactly_ what she did to Justin on his own eighteenth birthday. A little confetti and glitter was _nothing_ because she had done her prank as he was walking out the door to go to school.

Thankfully, today was a Saturday.

“Seriously though, happy birthday,” Justin said, pulling away. “Everyone sends their love, and Kat sent a present.”

“Present?” Julie asked, perking up. “What are we waiting for?”

She grabbed her brother’s arm and drug him, laughing, down the stairs. Sitting next to the couch was Justin’s oversized suitcase and his garment bag of suits but _on_ the couch, was a package the size of a box of bulk matches that was wrapped in soft pink paper and tied with a white ribbon.

Definitely from Kat.

Julie couldn’t help but squeal as she picked up the present and shook it, before falling onto the couch. She kicked her slippers off and tucked her feet underneath her as she started to slowly unwrap the ribbon and peel the paper.

Kat had gotten her a few gifts throughout the years, as her ex-babysitter and a friend of Justin’s. She was usually the only one of her brother’s friends that remembered her birthday and, at least to Julie, it meant even more now that they were Color Sisters. The first had been her first ever mixed tape with a bunch of mid to late 90’s pop songs that she actually still had in a box somewhere.

But this one, she noticed as she finished opening it, took the cake.

Inside the box was a round, pink pendant. The pink stone was almost marbled, different colors of pink wove together beautifully. The pendant itself had a simple gold setting and a thin, golden chain to match. It was easily one of the most beautiful pieces of jewelry she had ever seen.

It also came with a note.

 _‘Dear Julie, on your most happiest of eighteenth birthday,’_ it started in Kat’s small and cramped, but still readable penmanship. _‘Today, I’m passing on the tradition that was started on my eighteenth birthday by the Pink Ranger that preceded me, Kim. She gifted me a pendant almost exactly like the one that I am giving you, comparing it to the one that she had already owned. Kim said that no matter where we were in the world, or what was going on, we would always be sisters and I wanted to extend that offer to you as well. Happy birthday Julie, and I hope it’s a great one. See you soon! Love, your sister Katherine.’_

Julie clutched the pendant tightly, basking in the knowledge that there were two others almost exactly like it out in the world that belonged to her friend and the original Pink Ranger. She didn’t even realize she was tearing up until Justin took the necklace from her and placed it around her neck, snapping it closed in the back.

“Kat’s gonna think it’s great that you cried,” he said with a smile. “She did too, when Kim’s present was delivered from Florida.”

“I’m not crying,” Julie said, definitely crying. “But it was very thoughtful of her, I love it.”

“I bet you do,” Justin said, patting her shoulder. “Now come on, get dressed. You have practice in like twenty minutes.”

The Pink Ranger reached up and held her pendant tightly, as she stood with a sigh.

The grind never stopped.

* * *

Julie couldn’t help but grin as she sat in her usual spot in the lab after practice, her muscles were all nice and loose and Justin had treated her to an actual sit-down restaurant for breakfast.

It was Denny’s, but the thought still counted.

For once, she didn’t have her homework and textbooks spread out around her. She did have her backpack there, of course, but she had decided that since it was her birthday she was off the hook for homework.

Dr. O had greeted her warmly when she had walked down the stairs, still in his suit because they had yet to figure out how exactly to get him out, and wished her a, rather stunned, happy birthday when he saw her necklace before disappearing upstairs quickly, but she had just brushed it off and pulled out her laptop, reading all of the articles that were still pouring in from World’s.

It wasn’t long before the others started to trickle in, even though Dr. Oliver stayed upstairs. Hayley and Conner arrived at the same time and went to start working on calibrations for some new kind of vehicle while Ethan brought out his laptop and immediately started gaming without a word to any of them.

If she was hurt, she didn’t say anything. It wasn’t like she had advertised that her birthday was this day for the past week or anything.

Except she definitely did, but whatever. They were busy.

“All right, you ready Conner?” Hayley said, swiveling around in her chair.

Julie looked up from her laptop as Conner rubbed his palms together and placed his hands on the Triassic shield. “Yep.”

Hayley turned back around to the computers and started typing and Julie stood up to watch. “Try the controls,” the red head said. “Initiating simulation.”

The Pink Ranger watched as the veins in Conner’s arms bulged out from the amount of energy he was exerting as he tried to channel his energy into the shield, but she started to laugh under her breath as his hair slowly started to spike up from the electricity current. It looked like he stuck his finger in an electrical socket and he even started to _smoke_ as he said, “Hayley, can we stop please?”

Julie laughed as Hayley gasped and turned around, ending the simulation. Conner kind of stood there, staring into the distance with his arms out.

“You okay there Frankenstein?” she asked, with no reply. Julie patted his arm and led him over to a chair. “Come on Sparky, let’s sit down.”

 _“Hey Conner, are you there? It’s Kira,”_ came Kira’s voice over the comms. Julie turned to the computers to see a blown up image of Kira’s face. She looked like she was outside Cyberspace, judging by the bright green wall behind her.

“Hey Kira,” Hayley replied. “Unfortunately, he’s a little…”

“Fried like a Thanksgiving turkey?” Julie said, trying to help.

“-Busy right now,” Hayley finished, cutting her a look. “Are you all right?”

 _“Yeah, I’m fine,”_ the Yellow Ranger replied. _“I just wanted to tell him that-“_

“Can we call you back?” Hayley interrupted. “We’re working on the control program for the new assault vehicle.”

_“Oh, yeah sure. What about Ethan? Or Julie? Are they around?”_

Julie went to speak up, to say that yes she was here and Kira was welcome to talk with her, but Ethan interrupted, speaking up for the first time all day.

“Can you tell her, unless she’s getting attacked by something green and scaly, sent me an e-mail?”

“Did you get that?” Hayley asked.

“You can-,” Julie tried to say, but was interrupted by Hayley again.

“-And Ethan’s right. Unless it’s an emergency, we should keep the communication frequency clear.”

_“Okay I’m sorry. I’ll just talk to you guys later.”_

“You can text me, Kira!” Julie said, trying to squeeze what she wanted to in before she was cut off. “I’m-“

But Kira disconnected the call before she could finish.

Julie bit her lip as she wandered back over to her laptop, sitting down and reaching for her phone to text her friend.

“What are you doing over there that’s so important, anyway?” Hayley asked Ethan, who hadn’t looked up from his keyboard.

“Searching the web for my soul mate,” he said, with a kind of creepy grin. Julie snorted. “What? You can do it too! It’s super easy.”

“I’ll pass,” she replied, trying not to glance at Conner who was slowly starting to come back to himself. “Besides, don’t you have anything better to do?”

“Dude,” Conner said. “If you needed help with girls, you just needed to ask.” His voice was a little louder, and a lot more slurred. It was as if he had a mouth full of peanut butter.

“I’m looking for something a little deeper than you’re used to bro,” Ethan retorted. “And, by the way, nice look.”

“What?” Conner asked, confused. “What’s he talking about?”

Julie laughed, but Hayley spoke up first.

“You look fine,” she said. “Now, let’s try that again?”

Sick of being interrupted and ignored, when she could easily get that at home or, god forbid, at her mother’s house, Julie gathered up her stuff and made to leave.

“Where are you going?” Ethan asked, not looking up from his searching.

“I’m going to see if I can get in touch with Kira,” she said. “Maybe go eat some cake or something. Blow out some candles. Murder someone. Open a present.”

“Uh-huh, sounds nice.”

She bit down on her tongue in order to not bite the Blue Ranger’s head off. Their communication and relationship with each other had gotten back to a mostly positive place, but now Julie couldn’t help but feel angry whenever he said something somewhat negative or dismissive.

Probably something else she needed to talk to Aisha about, she thought, mentally adding it to the list to talk about with her therapist.

Conner and Hayley didn’t even look in her direction as she climbed the stairs, spotting Dr. O on the his couch that they had pushed into a room with the curtains drawn tightly, just in case anyone walking by looked in the windows to see if he was even there.

“I’m headed out Doc,” she said, a small smile on her face. “Do you need me to bring you anything?”

“No, but thank you Julie,” he said. “Happy birthday, again. Oh, and I like your necklace.”

She wrapped her hand around the pendant for the millionth time today and smiled. “Thanks Dr. O. And thank you for remembering. I thought eighteen would be a much bigger deal.”

Julie wondered if he was smiling under the unremovable helmet at her as he replied. “Eh, birthdays. Who needs ‘em? Once you’ve had one, you’ve had them all.”

* * *

Julie pushed open the door to the inner part of Cyberspace and looked around, trying to spot the Yellow Ranger. It had looked like in the surveillance video that she was here, so Julie hoped she had actually stayed at the café instead of left.

Trent cautiously waved at her from behind the bar and she quickly averted her eyes, still not used to the White Ranger as part of the team, but by looking away she spotted the familiar form of Kira at one of the pcs.

“Kira!” she said, happily. “I came as soon as I could – the communications got cut off before I could tell you I was available.”

“Julie!” the other girls replied, a bright smile on her face. “You’ll never guess-“

“Eww. Someone’s looking bummed out today,” came Cassidy’s voice as the blonde girl walked over to them. “Two someone’s actually. What’s the matter? You find out you’re not the next Hilary Duff?”

Kira sighed, “You know what? Even you aren’t going to ruin today, Cassidy.” She stood up and turned to Julie, grabbing her arms excitedly. “I got a call from a really big music manager,” she said. “He wants to sign me and record one of my songs, do a video and _everythi_ -!”

“If you’re done with the computer, I really need to use it,” Cassidy interrupted, _again_ , and pushed Kira out of the way to sit down at the computer.

Julie moved forward as if she were going to attack the girl, but Kira held her back with a smile still on her face.

“Julie! Isn’t it amazing!”

She turned towards her friend and smiled brightly back at her. “Oh Kira, I’m so happy for you! That’s going to be so cool! Do you know what song you’re going to do? Do you know when it is? Have you told Tanya yet?”

Kira shook her head. “It’s this afternoon! And I sent her an email, she actually gave me the guy’s contact info to get in touch and he finally reached back out! I sent the original email a month or so ago.”

Julie squealed and, in an uncharacteristic squeal from the other girl as well, the two came together in a hug.

“Can you two keep it down?” Cassidy said. “I’m _trying_ to do something here!”

* * *

The two Rangers eventually separated, Kira to meet her new music manager and Julie to head back home. The other girl was so excited and wrapped up in her own business, which was understandable considering this could be Kira’s big break, but Julie still felt a little winded at the lack of recognition.

Maybe Dr. O was right, and birthdays were no big deal after all.

In true Julie fashion, she sucked it up and made her way back home. Justin was still in town and mentioned that he was spending part of the day working from home, so maybe she’d grab him and they could watch a cheesy rom-com or something that he would never be caught dead otherwise watching and they’d order food and just chillax for the rest of the day.

However, she noticed that a familiar sedan was parked in the driveway of the Stewart sibling’s home and she felt her heart fall into her stomach.

Her mother was here.

Angela Stewart _nee_ Drew was always an overly busy mother. She got lucky, having one kid who was practically a genius and skipping four grades at once and another who took to a lucrative sport like a fish to water, but she was never actively involved in either of her children’s lives unless it somehow benefitted her.

Though, at least _someone_ remembered it was her birthday.

Julie slowly opened the front door of the house and followed the keening sound of her mother’s laughter to the kitchen where she was sitting at the table and Justin was bustling around with the actual stove on. Julie hadn’t even known that the stove _worked_.

“Oh!” her mother said, noticing her for the first time. “Julie dear! Happy birthday!” Their mom pushed herself up from the table and bustled across the room, throwing her arms around Julie tightly. The Pink Ranger wrapped her arms loosely around her mother in return.

“Hey mom,” she said, a smile on her face as she tried to make eye contact with her brother who was acutely ignoring her. “I didn’t know you were coming to visit.” She tried to sound excited, and it apparently worked.

“As if I wouldn’t come and surprise my Superstar on her birthday!” Angela replied. “You’re eighteen, baby! An adult! It’s an important day! Now, let me get a look at you. It’s been awhile!”

Angela grabbed both of Julie’s arms and held her literally at her full arm span’s difference and scanned the girl up and down. She was used to the scrutiny, but Julie couldn’t help but wonder if there was anything about her appearance or clothing that would catch her mother’s eye.

“Just as beautiful as always,” her mother finally said, a bright smile on her face. “What’s this necklace then? And this bracelet? You’ve never been a jewelry person. And sweetheart, all this pink? It just washes you out. No, you need more jewel tones – a royal purple or a mustard. Yes. You’d look good in a mustard.”

Julie made panicked eyes over her mom’s shoulders with her brother, who coughed to grab her attention.

“The bracelet and necklace are gifts from my friend Katherine mom, remember her? She used to babysit Julie?” he explained, trying to lump the two in together and, with them both being pink, it was plausible. “She was visiting a few months ago and the two bonded – Kat saying that Julie was like a little sister to her.”

“Oh, that’s so precious!” Angela said, her eyes tearing up. “I always liked that girl. Hilliard, was it? From Australia? And she was dating, what’s his name… the boy with the long hair. Thomas?”

“Tommy,” Justin clarified. “Tommy Oliver.”

Her mother nodded. “Him! Yes. Such a good boy. I wonder what he’s doing now.”

“Dr. Oliver is actually my science teacher,” Julie said with a wry grin. “If you can believe it.”

“It is such a small world, isn’t it?” Angela said. “Now, Justin, when will dinner be ready?”

* * *

Dinner with her mother was probably as painful as it could possibly be, but with the chance that it could have also been worse. Julie was praying to everything she could think of, including Dino Jesus, that her communicator didn’t go off while they were having her birthday dinner.

Thankfully, all was quiet and it passed as quickly as it could, Angela had to leave as soon as they were done because “the drive back to Angel Grove was awful, why couldn’t they move closer, honestly it's like they didn't even think about their poor mother.”

Julie and Justin stood on their front porch and waved to their mother as she pulled out of the driveway and left, giant fake smiles plastered on their faces. As soon as she was around the corner and officially out of sight, the siblings let out a huge sigh of collective sigh of relief.

“I am never cooking again,” Justin said, slumping onto the stair railing. “Seriously. Never.”

“I didn’t even know you knew _how_ ,” Julie replied. “Also, thanks for the save with the Katherine thing. I immediately blanked on what to tell her.”

Justin shrugged. “No problem. And, at least now we won’t have to see her again until my birthday.”

Julie pulled out her phone and saw that she had a missed call from Kira. The girl chewed on her lip, worried that something had happened. She hadn’t even heard the call as their mother had a stringent ‘No Phones at the Table’ rule.

“I think I need to get to the lab,” she said. “I missed a call from Kira and it might’ve been important.”

Justin nodded at her in return. “Sounds good. Oh and hey, Katherine should be here-“

But she had already started to teleport and missed the last part of his sentence.

* * *

“What’s that thing?” Julie said, first thing, as she appeared in the lab. Ethan and Conner jolted, startled, but Julie could only stare at the giant metal thing sitting on their exam table that was connected to all sorts of wires.

“Julie! Where’ve you been?” Conner asked.

“Dinner with my mom,” the Pink Ranger replied. “It was a special occasion, after all.”

“Oh yeah,” Ethan said with a snap, as if remembering. “Turbo X had a big launch recently, didn’t they? I’d want to celebrate that too.”

Julie thought about yelling at the boy that, no, it wasn’t because of that it was because it was her _actual_ birthday, but she was stopped from doing so by Kira stomping down the stairs with a smile on her face.

“Great,” she said. “You’re all here.”

“Kira, where’ve you been?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah,” Conner added, confused. “You should check in every once and a while.”

“Are you okay?” Julie asked. “I’m sorry I missed your call, my mother is very strict about phones.”

The Yellow Ranger pushed past all of them and went up to the computer where Hayley and Dr. O were sitting and trying to figure out something about the metal device.

“I tried,” she started. “But – never mind. Look, I need your opinion on something, and I need you all to be honest.” She pulled a disk out of her bag. “Hayley, can you play this?”

Julie crowded up behind Dr. O as Hayley agreed and put the disc into the computer and the sounds of a dance mix started playing with Kira on the screen. Or, someone that _looked_ like Kira.

Screen Kira’s hair was wild – very spiky on top with tiny braids trailing over her shoulders. She was wearing exaggerated makeup and had a very trippy background behind her. It didn’t really look like Kira, but it definitely _sounded_ like her as the girl on the screen who might be Kira started to sing.

Looking over, Julie made awkward eye contact with the boys who looked just as confused as she was until, finally, Kira said, “All right, tell me the truth.”

“Well… um…”

“It’s…”

“What? Is someone going to tell me what they really think?” the girl said, sounding upset.

“I will,” Conner insisted, only to be stopped as literally everyone else other than Kira harshly said his name.

“No, let him talk!” Kira said, growing angry.

Julie sighed, but didn’t try to stop Conner as he started to talk.

“I just think its… it’s not you,” he said, albeit more nicely than Julie thought he would say.

“It’s not that it’s bad!” Julie insisted. “It’s just different.”

Kira sighed. “Ugh, I knew it. What was I thinking?”

Before anyone could say anything else, the emergency alarms started to go off and Ethan let out a sigh of relief.

“Never thought I’d be glad to hear that sound,” he said. Julie slapped him on the shoulder. “What?”

“Don’t be rude,” she said as Hayley started trying to figure out where the alarm sounded from.

Julie’s jaw dropped when a familiar looking spaceship appeared on the screen, looking a lot more menacing than it did months ago on the day they got their powers.

“Either something escaped from the air show, or we’re in trouble,” Conner finally said after they watched it for a minute in silence as _something_ dropped from it.

“Zeltrax,” Dr. O said as the _something_ started to roll through the city. It looked like a demented caterpillar with wheels. “You guys handle it,” he said. “I’m gonna try to help Hayley get our new weapon powered up.”

The four Rangers nodded and moved to the middle of the lab to morph.

“Ready?” Conner asked.

“Ready!” the three others replied.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

The four Rangers didn’t even hesitate before they jumped into their Zords and formed the Thundersaurus MegaZord. Whatever it was that Zeltrax unleashed was big and bad, emphasis on the _big_ , and they needed to match it. Julie was thankful to be in control of the legs once again as the whatever it was lunged for them and she only _just_ managed to jump the MegaZord out of the way.

“What even _is_ that thing?” she asked, disgusted as it clicked it’s pincers together.

“Look out!” Conner called.

The new monster thing rolled up until it was as tall as the MegaZord and fired a red laser at them, hitting them directly and knocking them flat on the ground.

By the time they stood back up, they caught sight of it’s tail end as it burrowed under ground.

“Where’s it going?” Kira asked.

“Good question,” Conner answered.

The four of them scanned as much of the area as they could from their vantage point, but saw nothing.

 _“Guys, this thing is still in the area,”_ Dr. O said over the comms. _“We have to intercept it before it comes into the city.”_

The Rangers left the MegaZord as the Black Ranger caught up to them on his Raptor Rider. Julie stared in horror as the spaceship started to fly closer to them.

“What should we do, Dr. O?” Ethan asked.

“You’ll have to fight him the best you can,” their teacher finally said. “BrachioZord!”

Julie could see the fin on top of the BrachioZord as it crested above the trees, but she gasped as the long mechanical caterpillar with pincers popped out of the ground and attacked the Black Ranger’s Zord, causing it to cry out. It shot out a harsh laser to try and hit the monster, but before it could it _broke into pieces_ and started to fly away!

“Whoa! Check that out!” Conner said.

“That would be cool if it wasn’t absolutely _terrifying_ ,” Julie couldn’t help but say.

The three little winged ships that the monster broke into turned towards them and started firing lasers at the five grounded Rangers.

“Look out!” Dr. O called as they tried to dive out of the way to avoid the blasts. Julie hit the ground hard, but rolled through it and came to a rest on her knees.

She vaguely heard Dr. Oliver shout, “He’s getting away!” before the Black Ranger literally ran and jumped up onto Zeltrax’s spaceship as the little ships swooped around and started to fire on the BrachioZord. Their blasts eventually knocked the mighty Zord over on it’s side.

“We gotta do something!” Conner insisted.

“Like what?” Ethan asked.

“It might be time to go Triassic, Conner,” Kira suggested.

“That might be the only chance we have,” Julie added.

“I think you’re right,” the Red Ranger said as the ships started to blast the downed form of the BrachioZord before it formed back together into it’s caterpillar form.

Conner summoned the Triassic Shield and the other three Rangers called forth their energies. Julie carefully cradled her ball of bright pink energy in her arms before she extended one hand towards her teammate and sent the energy through the channel that she had created, the power slowly leaving her but imbibing their strongest member with the energy he needed to fight the monster.

“Triassic Ranger, Engage!” Conner called once the shield was charged enough.

His transformation wasn’t any less impressive than it was the first time he had done it and Julie didn’t know if it would ever lose it’s charm, even if she fell to her knees afterwards, exhausted, as her morph broke.

“I’m coming up there,” Conner said, before jumping up with the shield out in front of him. He made it to the monster, but instead of having the chance to attack, it just batted him away with one of its pincers and sent him flying back towards them.

Thankfully, he landed on his feet and pulled out his blaster and started firing at it.

Julie let out a cheer as the shots made contact, causing the monster to writhe and try to move out of the way before it sent a laser beam straight at the Red Ranger who, thankfully, had the shield to protect him. Conner raised the Triassic Shield and only stumbled a little as it _absorbed_ the attack completely and started to glow.

“Oh, that’s cool,” Julie said, her jaw dropping. “Did we know it could do that?”

Ethan and Kira shook their heads.

As the glowing cleared, Julie looked to the monster to see what must have been the new vehicle that Conner and Hayley had been working on standing on top of it. The Red Ranger slowly floated up to it before disappearing into the cockpit.

“Why does the Red Ranger get all the goodies?” Ethan asked as, whatever it was, let out a roar and started to move.

It wasn’t phased at all as the monster, once again, broke apart and started firing at it. The attacks glancing off of it as if they were nothing.

The monster formed back together as the back wheels of Conner’s new toy burst into flames and it started to speed up alongside the monster. Julie gasped when it’s spokes rammed into the side of the monster and caused one of the tires to explode which took the rest of the tires _and_ the monster along with it.

With the fight over, Conner jumped from the rover and demorphed while running over to them.

“Where’s Dr. Oliver?” he asked, confused.

“You wanna tell him?” Kira asked, looking at her and Ethan. Ethan closed his eyes and Julie sighed before pointing up at Zeltrax’s ship.

Conner turned around, shocked, to stare up at it. “He’s still up there?”

Julie stared worriedly at the spaceship, only for parts of it to start exploding.

“Oh that’s not good,” she said, chewing on her bottom lip.

The four Rangers watched from the ground as the spaceship started to fall apart until it literally _combusted_ , sending flaming bits and pieces flying off.

“No!” they shouted, worried for their teacher who was _still on the freaking ship_.

“He can’t be gone!” Kira cried out.

Julie felt her eyes well up with tears, wondering if one of the flying pieces of debris wasn’t just a part of their ship but was, in fact, their teammate.

“It’s all right, Rangers,” came Dr. Oliver’s voice from the ground.

The Pink Ranger jerked her head over to see him kind of limping and holding his shoulder as he made his way over to them

“I made it out,” he added.

Julie threw her arms into the air with a whoop as the teenaged Rangers ran over to their mentor and teammate.

“Are you okay?” she asked, concerned.

“What about Zeltrax?” Ethan threw in.

Dr. O sighed. “Zeltrax is gone. Officially.”

* * *

Julie grinned as she, Conner, Kira, and Ethan started walking to the little stage that the Rangers had managed to set up. Kira’s guitar case clinking along beside her.

“Well, everything is all set,” Trent said as he ran up to them. Julie was thankful that she stood on Conner’s other side and as far away from him as she could possibly be. “The cameras are all ready, playback’s good. All you gotta do is sing.”

Kira let out a relieved sigh, a bright smile rising on her face. “Thank you, guys,” she said. “From now on, no more letting someone tell me what to be.”

“Especially since who you are is already pretty cool,” Conner added with a smile.

Julie elbowed him in the side. “Look at you Ball Boy! Showing a soft side.” He elbowed her back and she laughed in return.

“Hey, you forget something?” the Red Ranger asked Ethan who was looking around as if he were trying to find someone.

The Blue Ranger rubbed his hands together. “I’m supposed to meet my cyber hottie today,” he replied, a grin on his face.

“What, here?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “I figured you can’t get much better in the first date department than a music video shoot.”

Julie shrugged. “I mean, you’re not wrong.”

“How are you gonna know who she is?” Conner couldn’t help but ask.

“She’s wearing a pink hat and a matching jacket,” Ethan explained.

Julie thought for a moment and looked down at herself, hoping that she didn’t accidentally wear the same thing, but no. Her jacket was blue denim and she _hated_ hats. But the pink thing was rather odd.

Finally, “Oh, there she is now!” Ethan said before he started jogging away from the group towards a girl sitting on her own.

They couldn’t hear what Ethan said as he spoke, but the girl stood up and turned around and Julie’s jaw _dropped_ as _Cassidy_ stood opposite from Ethan.

“I don’t believe it,” Trent said, shocked.

Julie was the first to laugh and it wasn’t long before Kira and Conner followed.

The crowd that had gathered for Kira’s _actual_ music video shoot was good, already bouncing along and getting into the music as soon as she and her band started to play. It was the same song she had recorded before, but this time it was completely _her_.

“Hey Julie.”

The video shoot was over and they were all walking back to the parking lot to head home when Conner called her name. The Pink Ranger turned around to see Conner awkwardly standing and holding something behind his back.

“What’s up, Conner?” she asked. “Are you still cool with giving me a ride home?”

“It’s not that,” the Red Ranger replied. “It’s… here.” He pulled whatever it was from behind his back and Julie felt her throat start to close when she saw it was a wrapped present. The paper was a very faded red and the wrapping was kind of messy, but there was still no doubt about what it was.

“Conner, what-“

“We really dropped the ball on your birthday, huh?” he said sheepishly. “I’m sorry it’s so late, but happy birthday Jules.”

Julie started to tear up a little as she walked forward to talk the offered present out of the other boy’s hand. He immediately shoved his hands in his pockets and looked to her as she clutched it to her chest.

“Well. Aren’t you going to open it?”

She smiled brightly as she ripped into the present, confused as to what it could possibly be but also excited and overjoyed that he actually remembered.

Inside was a simple picture frame with a picture inside from one of the first times the whole team had gotten together after Dr. Oliver became the Black Ranger. The five of them were sitting at Cyberspace on the couch. Dr. Oliver sat in the middle with Conner and Kira on either side of him while Julie sat on the arm of the couch next to Conner while Ethan leaned up against Kira's knees while sitting on the ground.

They were all laughing and smiling and Julie had no idea who even took the picture or when exactly it had happened, but it was perfect.

“Conner this…”

“It’s not a lot but-“

He didn’t even get to finish his sentence before she threw herself at him. He quickly pulled his hands from his pockets and wrapped his arms around her as she threw her own around him and hugged him tightly.

“Thank you, Ball Boy,” she said, her voice thick with tears. “This is perfect.”

“Happy birthday, Princess,” he said, squeezing her tight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why was Dr. O so in-his-feels? Is this fluff? Is Conner the biggest himbo of Power Rangers, yes or yes?


	20. A Ranger Exclusive

“We’re about three minutes out from the transmitter,” Conner said into his communicator to Hayley and Dr. O back at the lab. “Are we gonna make it?”

Julie nervously bit her lip as she revved her Raptor Cycle and pushed forward a little bit harder. They were all already morphed and primed to fight. This was going to be one of the most dangerous missions they’ve had yet with the worst repercussions if they happened to fail.

Dr. Oliver had called them all to the lab that morning with the message of a cataclysmic beam that could destroy the very Earth itself, if what his sensors were telling him was correct. The Rangers didn’t know exactly what they would be facing, just that it would be big and bad.

 _“You’ll have to hurry,”_ Dr. O replied. _“That beam needs to be shut down, and right away.”_

“We’ll do our best,” Conner added. Julie looked over at him and, as he nodded in her direction he called, “Hit it!”

And the four Rangers picked up the pace.

“There it is!” Ethan yelled as they finally emerged out from the dense forest and came to a stop in a clearing.

It _was_ monstrous, the machine. It was so big it probably couldn’t even fit in the lab. It had an absolutely _massive_ satellite dish pointing towards they sky that was hooked up to a machine with a countdown clock that was currently ticking down.

“We’ll have to hurry if we’re going to disarm it,” Kira said. Julie looked, anxiously, at the countdown on the machine and saw that it only had a minute left.

“Come on!” Conner said, motioning them forward.

And then an Invisiportal opened and the evil White Ranger clone and a bunch of Tyranno Drones popped out.

“You distract them,” Julie said, fiddling with the usb that had the code to stop the machine. “I’ll disarm!”

“Be careful, Jules!” Ethan yelled back as he jumped into the fight.

Julie tried to make her way around the Drones that the others were easily beating. She had to quickly jump out of the way of one that Kira sent _flying_ her way, but the Pink Ranger did notice that the White Ranger had yet to engage and was still standing in front of the machine with his arms crossed.

She would have to get through him first.

“And where do you think you’re going?” it asked, brandishing it’s sword at her. Julie braced herself and ran forward, trying to punch the clone, but he easily kicked her and sent her flying back.

Conner jumped in at that point and was also sent flying.

“Conner! Julie!” Kira yelled as she ran over to them.

“Are you guys okay?” Ethan asked.

“I’ve been better,” Julie said, jumping to her feet.

“Not for long!” the clone yelled, brandishing it’s quill sword as it ran forward.

The four Rangers nodded at each other before jumping into the fight, outnumbering the clone and holding their own due to their numbers. For every strike that the clone tried, they dodged or countered it.

But it was also doing the same in return, dodging the four of them with ease.

Finally, Julie was able to kick it in the back, knocking it forward to where Conner could do a spinning kick and sending him flying, crashing into the ground.

“That did it!” the Red Ranger said.

“Guys, it’s almost out!” Julie said as the beeping from the machine started to get quicker as it kept counting down.

“Lasers!” Conner commanded, not even trying to bother with the disarming code. “Fire!”

The Rangers pulled their blasters from their belts and Julie closed her eyes with a final prayer as they each shot multiple blasts at the machine.

She could feel the heat from the explosion penetrate her suit, but as Julie covered her head to protect herself from the debris, she knew that they had done it.

When the smoke had cleared, they saw the White Ranger clone disappear into an Invisiportal and Julie let out a sigh of relief.

“What a sore loser,” Ethan said with a scoff.

“Let’s not look the gift horse in the mouth,” Julie added.

“Let’s head back,” Kira said. They all nodded at each other and hopped back on their Cycles to ride back to the lab.

* * *

They demorphed once they got back to the lab and Dr. Oliver gave them his usual ‘job well done’ speech.

“Hey, do you guys wanna come to Cyberspace and watch us try a new song?” Kira asked as the teenagers were about to leave.

Julie frowned. “Sorry, Kira. Coach is calling me in to help teach a class.”

“I have soccer practice,” Conner added, regretfully.

“I can’t either,” Ethan said, suspiciously. His eyes were wide and he was clearly hiding something.

“Why not?” Kira asked, confused.

Julie nodded and turned towards the Blue Ranger, her arms crossed. “Yeah Ethan. I figured you’d be all about going to Cyberspace.”

“I have to go somewhere… with my mom,” he finally replied. “A dentist appointment!” He plastered an, honestly, creepy smile on his face.

Kira held up her hands placatingly. “Ethan, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Instead of being relieved, Ethan tensed up as he said, “Right. See you later!” and quickly disappeared up the stairs.

“What is with him?” Conner asked, following after him at a slower pace.

“Who knows?” Julie replied. “Can you drop me off at the rink? Justin’s out of town again and there’s nowhere safe to teleport.”

“Sounds good. It’s on the way to the field anyway,” he replied.

* * *

“Alright guys,” Julie said as she stood, solidly on the ice. “The trick to spinning is holding your arms out and keeping your legs apart for momentum. As you get better, you’ll be able to have your legs close to each other, but to start it’s easier to learn how much weight your body has to work with.”

The Pink Ranger smiled at the small class of beginners that Coach Theresa had been asking her to teach for the past couple of months. They were in awe of her, which was really cute. She was only a handful of years older than them, unlike the coach who was a little far back from the competition scene in a competitor kind of way.

And honestly? She loved teaching the classes. She could only manage one a week between school, her job at Cyberspace, her own practices, and Ranger business, but the same group of kids consistently showed up and were willing to learn so she considered it a success.

She clapped as little Katie, the girl with her usual pigtail braids and missing front teeth, did a solid double spin and barely noticed as Theresa tried to motion her over.

“Okay guys, Coach Theresa needs to see me, so just keep doing this for a bit okay? Then, we’ll see about playing HORSE,” she said with a smile. The kids cheered and focused more intently on spinning as Julie calmly skated over to her coach.

“Julie, you need to see this,” Theresa said as soon as she got close. Her face was serious and Julie felt her own mood dampen. Theresa was always bright and bubbly so this? This wasn’t good.

She stepped off the ice and didn’t even bother with her skate guards as she followed the woman to her small office that the rink had so graciously let the other woman use, excited that her coaching was bringing more people to the rink. It was small and crowded, only slightly bigger than the supply closet two doors down, but it had a desk and a couple of chairs and a bunch of medals and pictures covered the walls.

But there, on her computer screen, was a still from a paused video that caused Julie’s stomach to seize.

“What is-“

“It’s been making the rounds this morning,” Coach Theresa said, interrupting her. She was speaking quickly. “I first saw it on a page for coaches, but some of them have been sending it to me from other websites they’ve run across it. It’s… it doesn’t look good Julie.”

The Ranger leaned forward and pushed play, the soft music of her Olympic long program from 2002 crackled out of her coach’s tinny speakers, but it wasn’t the Olympic ice that she was skating on.

It was her own ice in Angel Grove.

She had seen the video, of course she had. It had been all that she obsessed over as she was laid up in the hospital from her numerous surgeries and physical therapy sessions. She knew it made the rounds on the internet, but it had been almost two years at this point.

Why was it back now?

Julie watched as the small incident that could have very well ended her career and, not to mention, her life started to play out and she pushed pause, stopping it. Her heart was beating nearly out of her chest.

“I don’t understand,” she said. “Why is it going around now?”

“If you watch the full thing,” Theresa started. “Someone placed your accident to carnival music and replayed the actual incident over and over again, slowing it down even more. It’s gruesome, whatever editing effects they used. Nobody can figure out who did it, but I have everyone I could get a hold of looking into it.”

“So, someone is using me almost _dying_ as a joke?” she asked, stunned. “why would anyone do that?”

Theresa shrugged. “I don’t know Jules, but I promise I’m trying to figure it out. You have that meet in Briarwood coming up soon, I don’t want this to overshadow it.”

“I think I need to go home,” Julie admitted, tears pricking the corners of her eyes as she stared, stunned, at the paused screen. She saw the stuffed animal on the ground, the one that her toe pick had caught in that had tripped her up, causing one of her skates to catch on the other in midair and causing _her_ to plummet to the ground, her head bouncing off the ice and knocking her unconscious and the force from the fall causing one of her own tibia to slice through the skin on her leg as it broke into pieces, poking out from in under her tights. 

Coach Theresa nodded and patted her on the shoulder before ushering her out. “I’ll deal with the kidlets, you head home. Everything will be okay, Julie. I promise.”

The teenager nodded, slowly shuffling out of the office and towards her bag on the sideline. Theresa quickly stepped into her skates and moved fluidly out to the class and she heard their disappointed cries as the woman told them that Julie wouldn’t be back today.

How could someone _do_ that, Julie wondered as she slid on her regular shoes and quickly made her way out of the rink. Her leg was hurting with a phantom pain and she knew nothing was wrong, but it still caused her heart to skip a beat at the thought.

Julie pulled her phone out of her pocket and called Conner, hoping he was done with practice. Thankfully, he picked up. “Hey Conner, I know it’s short notice, but would you mind coming to get me? Something happened and-“

 _“Yeah totally,”_ he replied. _“I have Ethan too. Is everything-“_

“Okay? I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’m waiting outside.”

 _“We’re two minute away,”_ the Red Ranger replied as he hung up the phone. Julie pulled her jacket farther around her body and tried to bury herself in it as she waited.

* * *

“So, let me get this straight,” Ethan said. “Someone, and you don’t know who, adding a bunch of effects and sounds to the video of your accident that caused you to almost _die_ and is now spreading it across the ‘net?”

“That about sums it up,” Julie replied from the backseat. “I just don’t know why-“

 _“Uh, you guys mind coming down to the TV station?”_ Kira said as her voice ran over the comms. _“There’s something you gotta see.”_

Julie tensed, wondering if there was any possibility that it had something to do with _her_ video, but heard screaming in the background and was relieved that it might be something different and then ashamed at being relieved because it could be serious.

“On our way,” Ethan replied as Conner stepped on the gas.

The trio quickly threw themselves out of Conner’s two door car as soon as they skidded to a stop in the empty parking lot of the TV station, Julie unwinding herself from the backseat with a quickness and precision that would’ve stunned almost anybody in order to make it out of the door before Conner forgot she was back there and shut it on her. Again.

“What on Earth is that?” she said, gaping up at the monster in horror.

“It looks contagious,” Ethan added as the three ran up to the still form of Kira who was looking up at it.

The monster looked like a giant robot tried to swallow Jupiter and it stood 30-stories tall, menacing the straggling civilians that were left in the parking lot.

“Only one way to stop it,” Conner said. “Ready?”

“Ready!”

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

“It’s time for a meltdown,” the monster chanted as it walked closer and closer to the station.

Conner brought his communicator up to his mouth, “Dr. Oliver – Zord time-“

“Look!” Kira grabbed, grabbing his arm and pointing to the monster.

The ‘big red spot’ on the monster’s Jupiter started to glow as it started to turn invisible!

“Hey! He’s gone! Dr. O, did you catch that?”

“Oh, this isn’t going to be good,” Julie couldn’t help but add.

 _“Yeah. Guys, you better get back here,”_ Dr. O said over the comms. _“We need to get a lock on this thing.”_

The four nodded at each other as Kira replied, “We’re on our way.”

* * *

Julie rushed into the lab to realize they weren’t the only ones there, with Dr. O, Hayley, and Trent already waiting for them. Hayley stood up from the computers as the four joined up with the other Rangers.

“I’ve downloaded the information from the tv station,” Hayley started. “It’s a virus of some kind. Mesogog is using it to reroute the satellite system and send their beam to Jupiter.”

Julie anxiously stood and fidgeted with the hem of her shirt as the implications set in. What they had destroyed earlier must have been trying to do the same thing, but Mesogog and his goons still found a way around them destroying it.

“This is serious,” Dr. O said from behind them. “We have to get in there and shut that thing down.”

“Conner, I’ve adjusted your Triassic powers so Ethan, Kira, and Julie can give you the energy you need and still stay morphed,” Hayley said.

Julie sighed as Kira replied, “At least there’s some good news.”

However, the city’s security alarm started beeping as if to immediately refute the other girl.

“What now?” Dr. O groaned as the image on the computers turned from the satellite at the tv station to the White Ranger clone on the roof of the building.

“Oh, man. Not him again,” Ethan complained.

“At least you know it’s not me this time,” Trent added, relieved.

Julie cut a look at him that he didn’t notice before turning back to the screens. “So what do we do?”

“You guys better get over there,” Dr. O instructed. “Conner, you deal with the White Ranger. Kira, Julie, Ethan, and Trent, you check inside, look for the control room.” At their nods of agreement, the Black Ranger said his final “Good luck.”

“Ready?” Conner asked.

“Ready,” the others replied.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

“White Ranger, Dino Power!”

The Rangers immediately hopped on their Raptor Cycles and, Trent, his ATV and rode out of the lab, through the forest, and back towards the TV station.

All five Rangers skidded to a stop as Conner called, “This is it!” over the noise from all five vehicles. They immediately jumped off and ran towards the building.

“Okay, you guys head to the control room, I’ll look for the White dude,” Conner instructed.

“Huh?” Trent asked.

“Sorry, the evil White dude,” Conner amended.

The groups split up, Julie wondering and hoping that Conner would be okay.

“Yoo-hoo! Kiddies!”

Julie sighed.

“Well that’s just rude,” Kira said, turning around. Julie followed the Yellow Rangers actions and looked to see Elsa, with a new look, and a bunch of Tyranno Drones standing opposite them. “I should’ve known,” the Yellow Ranger said.

“T-drones, get them,” Elsa commanded.

Julie briefly wondered who was going to fight Elsa herself, but Trent solved that riddle easily and jumped in to fight his old coworker while the other three Rangers jumped to fight the hoard of drones.

“Up and at ‘em,” Julie yelled as she got a running start and jumped off of the shoulders of one to get to the staircase of the tv station behind them. “Come and get me!”

The whole group of drones started to run up the stairs after her, crawling over each other and pushing to get to the higher level. Ethan and Kira maneuvered their own ways up to the second level right as the group of drones attacked.

Julie backflipped, kicking one in the chin before two rushed at her and grabbed her arms and keeping her still. With a grunt of effort, she smashed the two of them together and the blow stunned them enough to relax their grip, so she readjusted herself and flipped them.

A few more drones were trying to climb the stairs, so Julie jumped up and grabbed a beam underneath the next staircase up and started to kick them down, watching them fall like dominos.

“Come on, guys!” Ethan called to them as he started to run up the stairs past his and her fallen drones.

“On it,” Kira yelled, rushing up the stairs.

Julie made to run as well, but before she could even move three identical beams of light shot down from below and struck all three of them.

The blow caused her, and she assumed the others, to fly through the air and off the balcony of the third floor before landing at the very bottom. Julie gasped as her breath left her from the blow.

That really hurt.

She watched as Elsa threw Trent into a bunch of trashcans and winced, that also had to hurt.

“Can’t stop now,” Ethan groaned as he pushed himself to his feet.

“Right.”

“Let’s go.”

“If you say so,” Julie mumbled.

By the time they had managed to stand, Elsa had started to make her way up the stairs.

“You’re not going anywhere,” she taunted, her sword at her side.

“Oh really?” Trent asked. “You guys go ahead, I’ll deal with her. Go help Conner.”

The other three nodded at each other before saying, in unison, “Right,” and running back outside to help the Red Ranger and leaving Trent to deal with the woman himself.

Conner’s fight with the evil White Ranger hadn’t moved far from where they had left him earlier, but Julie did notice that his Super Dino Mode was activated so things hadn’t gone perfectly.

“Glad you guys are here,” the Red Ranger said, nodding at them. “Time to go Triassic.”

“Yeah, he’s all yours,” Kira said.

“We’ll try to find that virus,” Ethan added.

“And find a way to stop Elsa,” Julie said.

Conner held the Shield of Triumph aloft as the other three summoned their Ranger energies and pushed them into the shield, watching as it started to glow and Conner started to transform into the Triassic Ranger.

They didn’t wait long enough to see him finish before the trio took off back inside, using another door that Kira knew about. Thankfully, due to Hayley’s modifications on the shield they were able to stay morphed and actually had energy to spare so they weren’t collapsing to the ground with the giving up of their energy.

“Quick!” Kira yelled as she led them through the hallways. “This way! We gotta find that control room!”

"Don't you work here?" Julie asked, dodging around a potted plant.

"I only get the coffee!"

Julie pushed herself to her limits, running as fast as she could as she slalomed through the hallways and the chairs and plants and other miscellaneous things in them to get there as quick as she could.

Time was definitely running out now.

Out of breath, the Pink Ranger was thankful when her friend yelled, “This is it!” and threw herself through a doorway and into the control room.

“Oh, man, that’s ugly,” Kira said.

Julie gagged at the sight. The control room was taken over by a giant eyeball that was bigger than the three of them combined. All of the screens and monitors in the room had the same eye on them as well, making the room glow a sickly yellow color.

“Blast it!” Ethan yelled.

The Rangers pulled out their blasters and started firing, easily hitting the giant target that was the glowing yellow eye until it exploded, sending them flying into the wall behind them.

Recovering quickly, the three Rangers ran back outside to where Conner was and the evil White clone wasn’t.

Julie watched from a distance as the monster from before, the one with the planet coming out of its chest that had been the source of the virus, rematerialized.

“We’ve interrupted the beam,” Kira said. “But the virus has gone back to its original form.”

“Terrific,” Conner replied, sarcastically.

The giant monster shuffled its way over to them and the four Rangers could just stare in shock before it yelled, “It’s crunch time!” and tried to stomp on them.

Julie threw herself to the side, barely missing being flattened by the ugly thing. She looked up from her spot on the ground, to see if everyone else made it out okay. Kira and Ethan were in similar positions to her, but Conner…

“Conner?” Julie called out.

“Where is he?” Kira asked.

The monster started to laugh, before it abruptly stopped as Conner, from _underneath the monster’s foot_ , started to lift it back up.

“Oh wow,” Julie said, pushing herself quickly to her feet. “He’s strong.”

“Wow is right,” Ethan said. “Now _that’s_ holding your own.”

Conner, with all of the strength he now possessed, threw the 30-story monster by just its foot and causing it to go flying before it crashed into the ground, unable to regain its footing.

“How’s that for power?” the Red Ranger asked.

A roar sounded from their left and Julie turned, a bright smile on her face.

“Look!” Ethan cried.

“The Triassic Rover!” Conner added. “All right!”

“Let’s get this show rolling,” Julie said, cracking her knuckles.

Conner jumped into the cockpit of the Rover and, unbelievably, turned in into a full on MegaZord by itself! Like how Trent had managed to do with his DragoZord.

“Did we know it could do that?” Julie asked, looking up in awe.

“Nope,” Ethan said. “But I’m not complaining.”

The Mezadon MegaZord was large and intimidating, easily the size of the Thundersaurus MegaZord. It was mainly red, black, and gold to match Conner’s Triassic transformation and it carried two golden axes as weapons.

The monster had managed to stand up at this point, facing down the Mezadon MegaZord and saying, “I will vet you!” before firing a blue laser beam at it, but it just bounced off like it was nothing – not even causing a scratch.

“No you won’t,” Julie heard Conner say as he swung first one axe, then the other, then the first one again – striking the monster with each blow before he reached out and swatted it with the other axe and knocked it back.

“Power Pulse!” the Red Ranger called.

Julie watched in awe at the giant battle as the Mezadon MegaZord tapped its double axes together before _pushing_ them forward and sending a brilliant beam of yellow light straight at the planetary monster, causing it to spark before the beams actually _lifted the monster off the ground_!

“Woo!” Julie cheered as the monster begged to be let down.

“Look at him go!” Kira said, cheering alongside her.

The Mezadon MegaZord lifted the monster higher and higher until it exploded in the sky, raining sparks down on them like fireworks.

* * *

Julie couldn’t help but grin as they tagged along with Kira to work the next day to see the new exclusive on the Power Rangers that Cassidy Cornell, of all people, had managed to get.

The four Rangers gathered tightly around the little screen as it played the honestly _epic_ footage that Devin had gotten of them.

“You know,” Conner started. “I still don’t get why you went to all that trouble for Cassidy but… whatever.”

“Seriously though,” Julie replied. “I’ve seen field reports before and I didn’t think she had it in her, but this is _good_.”

“Hey, can’t someone do something nice without having a reason?” Ethan asked, confused.

The group of teenagers were hushed by a PA as someone started to count down and the lights on Cassidy went up.

Julie turned around with the others to watch as Cassidy got her first big break.

“It’s rare in this day and age to find true heroes,” the girl started. “Those individuals who sacrifice and dedication remind us of everything that’s good and right with the world. We have heroes like that in our very own city.

“The Power Rangers,” she continued. “Those multi-colored protectors of everything that we hold dear have once again proven that we are in the best hands. This is Cassidy Cornell reporting.”

A man called the all clear and Julie couldn’t help but clap excitedly.

“Wow those Power Rangers do sound cool, don’t they?” she asked. Conner snorted and elbowed her.

“Kira wait, don’t go!” she heard Cassidy say.

Instead of elbowing Conner back, Julie turned to see Cassidy try and grab Kira and stop her from leaving.

“Yes, Cassidy?” Kira asked.

Cassidy took in a deep breath. “I just wanted to say I really appreciate what you did for me,” she said, an earnest smile on her face. She then leaned forward and kissed the Yellow Ranger on the cheek. “There, I did it.” And turned away.

“At least she’s trying, right?” Ethan asked.

“By the way, Julie,” he continued. “Have you figured anything out about your video problem?”

The Pink Ranger winced. “Honestly no, but we’re working on it. Justin sent it to a friend of his to figure out what editing software was used because he had never seen anything like it before so we’re hoping that it will narrow it down.”

“I could take a look,” the Blue Ranger offered. “I know a thing or two-“

“I don’t want you guys to see it,” she admitted, interrupting him. “It’s… really bad. I don’t want you guys to think less of me.”

Kira wrapped one of her arms around her shoulders. “We could never,” she said. “But – we will respect your wishes.”

“I hope the person who did it knows to watch out though,” Conner added.

Julie smiled, thankful that her friends had her back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who do we think did it? And now y'all know the full story of The Accident. And, with this and the cutting of a few more filler chapters and the switching around of some others, there's only 10 chapters left of Dino Thunder! The back third is action packed with the Ninja Storm crossover and the actual finale and maybe some hints about the sequel because Julie's story won't end here!


	21. Disappearing Act

“Oh look,” Conner said. “It’s Ethan and Cassidy.”

“I’m glad they managed to figure out their issues,” Julie said, a smile on her face. “I may not like the girl a lot, but Ethan seems to really dig her.”

“Do you like anyone?” Trent asked, as he walked alongside them.

Julie knew she could yell at him, there in the middle of their high school parking lot, but she also knew that she _shouldn’t_ do that. If not because Aisha told her she needed to start coming around to the idea of the White Ranger being one of the good guys and actually on their team (she had vetted him, herself, after all) but because Kira was currently cutting her a dangerous look while wielding Conner’s mini soccer ball.

And Julie knew she’d threw it at her in a _second_ if she said anything against Trent to his face.

“Of course, I like people,” she finally responded after Conner elbowed her. “Cassidy though, sometimes I wonder if she even is a people.”

“I think you’re just jealous,” Kira said, a smug smirk on her face. “Cassidy and Ethan are somewhat of a thing now and you’re-“

“I’m _what_ , Kira?” Julie interrupted, giving her a dangerous look. Kira clamped her mouth shut, quickly, but couldn’t hide her smile.

Thankfully, the boys caught up with Ethan and the two girls stopped glaring at each other and the previous subject matter was dropped.

What? Did Kira think she was _jealous_ or something? Of Ethan? No way.

“What was I thinking?” Ethan asked, a whine in his voice.

“First date jitters?” Conner teased, elbowing the other boy.

Ethan sighed, worried. “I wouldn’t know! This is my first date ever.”

Conner’s jaw dropped. “Oh, no way.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Kira added.

“Yeah! I’ve never been on a date either, Ethan. You’re all good,” Julie said, a smile on her face. Conner turned to her and gaped as Ethan started talking.

“A 20-gig hard drive with a 512-meg portable backup is sweet. This is pure torture,” Ethan replied. “And Julie? That’s just sad. You’re an Olympian! You should be rolling in the dates.”

“Dude, don’t sweat,” Conner said, finally shutting his mouth and throwing an arm around the Blue Ranger’s shoulders. “We’ll put you through dating boot camp. When you finish, you’ll be Cassidy and Casanova! The power couple of Reefside, right, guys?” And then, as an afterthought, “Julie can come too.”

Julie scoffed. “Sorry Ball Boy, but I’m busy. I’ve got a thing.”

“Is it about the, _you know_ ,” Kira asked. The Pink Ranger sighed, knowing exactly what she was referring too.

“Yeah, it is,” she said, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ears. “Coach’s people couldn’t come up with anything, so Justin is sending it to someone he knows at NASADA.”

“Wait, your brother is a tech guy, right?” Trent asked. “How does he know someone at NASADA?”

“It’s a Blue thing,” Julie replied, waving him off. “All of the previous Blues have done a thing with NASADA because that’s currently the only way to get in touch with Billy, the first Blue Ranger of Earth, since he lives on Aquitar.”

Ethan groaned. “Oh God, don’t say that. I don’t even want to _think_ about adding something else to my plate now. Can we just focus on the date thing?”

Julie patted his back as they walked into school. “Sure, Loverboy. Why not.”

* * *

“I can’t believe you’ve never been on a date,” Conner muttered to her as they all sat in their normal seats in science class.

Julie set her books down slightly harder than normal and slid into her seat.

“Not everything revolves around relationships, Ball Boy,” she said. “Besides, when would I have had the time? Before or after earning the Olympic medal?”

He shoved her and she couldn’t help but laugh as Mr. Mercer walked in and started the class.

It had been weird when Trent’s adopted dad had started teaching them in Dr. O’s absence, especially since they used to be some kind of friends and he _definitely_ knew that something was up with the Tyranno Drones and everything else that the good doctor had worked on. He tended to ignore the group of Rangers for the most part, and Julie wondered if that was because Trent had told him to or if he just didn’t want to deal with them.

“Okay class, the crocodile,” Mr. Mercer started as Julie flipped to a fresh page in her notebook. “Now, this amazing reptile has been around for millions of years without evolving. It’s a testament to the creature’s near perfection. It was about a million years…”

Mr. Mercer trailed off for a minute and turned around, quickly, facing the blackboard where he had drawn an image of the very animal that he was talking about. He shook his head, but still faced away and Julie could see his shoulder’s moving from taking deep breaths.

“Is he alright?” someone else in the class asked. The Rangers all looked at Trent as if he would have the answer to his dad’s sudden issues.

Instead, the White Ranger just looked worried.

“Ahem, as I was saying,” their teacher said, turning back around and trying to compose himself. “About a million years ago, the, uh…” He coughed into his hand. “Excuse me for a moment, please.”

He turned and quickly left the room, leaning hard on the door before he managed to pull it open. He didn’t even get fully outside of it before Trent was up and out of his seat and rushing towards his father.

“I wonder what his deal is?” Kira asked.

“He probably had the cafeteria food yesterday,” Julie added. “I think I saw the peas move and start to form their own system of government.”

* * *

The school bell had barely even rung for dismissal that day before Julie’s communicator started to beep the familiar emergency sequence that they had all come to know as Big-Bad-Hurry. She pushed her way past everyone in her math class and quickly ran to the end of the hallway where Conner and Kira, who shared a math class down the hallway from hers, were waiting.

“What’s going on?” Kira asked, worriedly.

Julie shrugged. “I don’t know, but whatever it is can’t be good.”

The trio met up with Ethan and Trent near the front doors, and they looked just as worried.

“Go,” Conner said. “Ethan, Julie, you’re with me. Trent, could you take Kira to the lab?”

The White Ranger, and the only other one of them who had a car, nodded. “Of course. Let’s go.”

They each piled into their respective vehicles, Julie using her smaller form to crawl between the seats of Conner’s car so that they didn’t have to waste time putting one of the seats down so she could climb in, and before she knew it they were speeding down the road.

It wasn’t the first time that Julie was thankful that their high school was near the edge of Reefside. She couldn’t even _imagine_ how fast Conner the Daredevil would need to drive if they’re school was in the middle of downtown like one of the elementary schools.

Both vehicles pulled to a stop in Dr. O’s driveway, kicking up gravel as Conner slammed the car into park. Kira led the way, letting them into the house with one of the spare keys that Dr. Oliver had given them.

“So what’s the emergency?” Conner yelled as the five teenagers ran into the lab. Julie’s hand hovered over her communicator, ready to turn it into her Stego Morpher at a moment’s notice.

“Hey guys,” Dr. O said. “Hayley thinks she can demorph me.”

She didn’t realize how tense she was until he said those words and Julie felt her shoulders instantly relax.

“That’s great!”

“Amazing!”

“Awesome!”

“How?”

The red head stood up from the main computer chair, a small smile on her face. “With a little help of this slime,” she said. “It might work as a synthesizing agent that I think can help bring Tommy back to his normal self.”

“Okay,” Hayley said a few minutes later after they all looked over the data and had Hayley explain it so that it made sense. “I’ve input your molecular structure and DNA information. So now to add the slime.”

Julie gripped tight to both Kira and Conner’s arms as Dr. O stood in a weird contraption that she was honestly both surprised that they had laying around the lab but also not, at the same time. The bucket of slime that Hayley held was glowing an eerie green color.

“I hope this works,” she heard Hayley mutter.

“You’re not the only one,” Dr. O replied.

“Good luck, Dr. O,” Conner said, nodding at the man.

As Hayley put the slime bucket into a tube that would disperse it onto their teammate, Dr. O replied, “Catch you on the flip side.”

Julie held in her snort as some of the lights on the machine started to flash as Hayley pressed some buttons. Ethan started to bounce a little in excitement.

“System activated,” their tech genius said.

She walked over and stood next to them, away from the machine just in case something goes wrong as the slime started to ooze through the tubes that were connected to the machine and then the slime started to shower down on Dr. O in a gross, globby mess.

“No way!”

“That’s disgusting,” Julie added, scrunching her nose.

Then, Dr. O’s morph violently broke right as Kira screamed, “No!” and he disappeared.

“What’s going on?” Conner asked, worriedly. All of them looked to Hayley, who looked just as confused as they did.

“He’s gone,” Julie said, in awe.

The group stood in silence for a minute before a towel that was laying on the ground to wipe up the excess goo started to float into the air.

“Dr. Oliver? Are you there?” Conner asked, again, as the floating towel started to move as if it were actively drying someone or _something_ off.

“Yeah, I’m here,” came the voice of Dr. Oliver as the towel started to rub approximately where the man’s face should be if he wasn’t invisible. “Hayley, any guesses on what’s going on?”

“Looks like the slime made your Dino power of invisibility kick into Overdrive,” she explained, a relieved smile on her face at finding out that he was still there, just invisible.

Julie could understand the sentiment.

“Great,” Dr. O replied. “I got my body back, but now no one can see it.”

“An invisible science teacher,” Ethan said with a laugh. “That is _so_ totally graphic novel!”

“Glad you find it funny, Ethan,” Dr. Oliver replied sarcastically.

“Is there anything you can do?” Kira asked Hayley, still concerned.

Hayley sighed. “This is a tough one. I have no idea how to counteract that agent.”

“Don’t worry, Dr. Oliver,” Trent said, speaking up for the first time since they got to lab. “We’ll figure it out.”

Then, from behind them, “Uh, guys, over here?”

The Pink Ranger jumped, startled, and turned to where a different towel was floating in the air.

“There’s nothing you can do right now,” the Black Ranger explained. “Hayley and I will work on it.”

“I guess now’s a good time to give Ethan his makeover,” Conner suggested with a shrug.

“Um, but-“ however, Ethan didn’t get to finish as Kira grabbed his arm and started pulling him upstairs.

* * *

The next couple of hours before Ethan’s date were honestly a trip to watch, if Julie could say so herself.

The group of teenagers used the empty Cyberspace, thanks to Trent’s key, for Ethan’s ‘Dating Boot Camp.’ Julie thought she saw Conner drawing up plans to make it an actual thing while Kira was forcing Ethan into a bunch of outfits that the boy owned, trying to figure out the best thing for him to wear.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join?” Kira asked, later, as Conner and Ethan were actually _tangoing_ around the empty café. “I’m sure we could help-“

“I’m good,” the Pink Ranger interrupted. “Besides, Ethan’s actual first date is much more pressing than my not actually happening date.”

“I can hook you up with someone,” Conner asked. “A couple of the guys on the soccer team would love to go on a date with you.”

She turned her nose up. “No thanks,” Julie replied. “I’m sure they’re sweet, but I really just don’t have time.”

“What about prom?” Trent asked. “That’s in like – two months. Are you going with someone to that?”

Julie shrugged. “Honestly? No idea. Maybe if someone asked but I have other things to worry about.” Her phone started to ring with the familiar ring tone that belonged to Justin. “Like whatever this is.”

She left them with a little wave as Trent started to set up a little fake picnic, answering the phone.

“What’s up Jay?”

 _“Anita Chen,”_ her brother said, in lieu of a greeting. _“That’s who did it.”_

Julie definitely looked like a fool as she stood outside of Cyberspace with her jaw dropped. Anita?

“What? How do you-?”

 _“I can’t believe I didn’t recognize the specific signatures before,”_ Justin replied. _“Margaret Chen is Anita’s older sister and she runs-“_

“The Killian Codex,” Julie finished, vaguely remembering talking to the other girl about it years ago. “But how-“

 _“Some of the specific animations that were put into the video are exclusive only to the video editing program that’s associated with the Codex,”_ Justin explained. _“It took two NASADA scientists to talk it out until an intern who makes short films for fun recognized one of them.”_

“I just don’t know why she would do this,” Julie replied, still stunned. “I mean, I know we haven’t been friends since Utah, but still. To do that?”

 _“I wish I could tell you Jules,”_ her brother said. _“What do you want to do? I told your coach and she’s pushing to take it to the higher ups involved with figure skating, but I don’t know what that would mean for her.”_

Julie bit her lip, thinking it over. “We’ll have to talk it over with Coach, I’m sure she’ll know what to do-“

She was interrupted by her communicator beeping.

“Jay, I gotta-“

 _“Go Little Pain,”_ he said. _“I’ll talk with Theresa. May the Power protect you.”_

The call disconnected right as the others ran outside.

“Julie! Let’s get to the lab!”

The Pink Ranger swallowed the knot that was starting to form in her throat and nodded. She had a job to do.

* * *

They morphed as soon as they got to the lab, immediately jumping on their Raptor Cycles and, as Trent stayed to check in on Dr. O, started heading to downtown where Mesogog’s newest Monster of the Week was throwing down.

“That has to be it!” Ethan yelled as they drove through a concrete deck on a building.

“No Ethan, the giant thorny guy with the weird mouth is the new Mayor, didn’t you hear?” Julie replied sarcastically. If they were stopped he would have it her, but thankfully they didn’t skid to a stop and climb off of their cycles until they were much closer.

“Giant thorny thing, looks about right,” Conner said as he climbed off. “Hey, didn’t your mother teach you to play nice with others?”

“I’ll show you what she taught me!” the monster replied in a squeaky voice that definitely didn’t match how horrendous it was.

The Rangers didn’t even try to give it time as they immediately ran forward to engage in a fight as it summoned a green rope of energy and swung it at them, wrapping them all up. When the green glow faded, it turned into thick vines that were super tight. Julie couldn’t budge!

“All right,” Kira said. “Now what?”

“Lasers!” Conner replied. He had managed to wiggle his arms free enough to reach down and grab his blaster, the others somehow managing to do the same. They lifted their blasters and, even though they were only at waist height, fired on the monster and hitting it directly.

When it started to spark and smoke, the slack on the vines loosened enough that they could wiggle out.

“Tyranno Staff!” Conner yelled, summoning his weapon. He jumped forward and tried to swing it at the monster, but the monster instead _grabbed_ it and used it to throw Conner thirty feet away and keeping a hold of the Staff.

Julie and the others ran up to him right as he was getting up. “Man that guy packs a punch,” the Red Ranger said.

“I think I’ll try out my swing!” the monster declared. Julie turned to look at him to see him setting up… a giant golf ball? And holding Conner’s Staff like a club. “Don’t try this at home!”

“Tryouts for the golf team were last week!” Julie yelled.

“Look out!” Kira added.

The monster hit the golf ball that turned into _four_ golf balls, one of each hitting a different Ranger. Julie was thrown backwards at the force of the hit, landing hard on the ground.

“Did anybody get the license plate on that golf cart?” Julie asked, trying to push herself up.

“See you in the clubhouse!” the monster said, gleefully, before disappearing into an Invisiportal.

Ethan gasped. “Oh, man! I’m late for my date!”

“Good luck!” the others called as he ran off, almost as fast as Conner in super speed mode.

* * *

“Don’t you think this is a little…”

“Creepy? Yes. But look! He made some points there,” Conner said in return to Julie while they were back at the lab. Julie let out a puff of air but turned back to the screen where they somehow had gotten surveillance footage of the hilltop where Ethan and Cassidy were having their date.

“Aw, how cute is he?” Kira asked, a big smile on her face.

“So far so good,” Trent said as the two on the screen started to set up the picnic and actually start to eat.

Julie jumped as Dr. O’s voice sounded from directly behind her. “Looks like I’m not the only excellent teacher around here.” The Pink Ranger watched as the water bottle that was on the desk slowly rose up as the invisible man started to drink from it.

Hopefully, this new infliction of his wouldn’t last long. She didn’t know if her heart could take constantly being surprised whenever he spoke.

Ethan on screen started to talk about video games and Conner let out a frustrated scream. “No! I specifically told him not to go into geek mode!”

“You can take the boy out of the geek but you can’t take the geek out of the boy,” Julie said. “Or something like that. You know what I mean.”

 _“But I bet you don’t want to hear about any of this,”_ Ethan said.

 _“No! It’s really interesting,”_ Cassidy said, interrupting him. The two fell into an awkward silence. _“Oh! Speaking of games. I’m covering the big playoff on Sunday. You going to go?”_

 _“I don’t really like basketball,”_ Ethan replied.

Julie winced as Cassidy, in return, corrected him.

“This isn’t going well.”

And then, to make matters worse, Ethan got a little over enthusiastic with a drink and spilled some on his date. Julie groaned and knelt down so she could bury her head in her arms on the desk. “I can’t take it anymore.”

“He’s having a complete meltdown,” Conner said, shaking his head.

“This is so sad to watch,” Trent added.

“Which is why I’m not,” Julie said, muffled. “Watching that is.”

Kira sighed. “Dr. O, is there anything we can do to help him?” But it was silent, their teacher not answering. Julie looked up from her arms in the place where he had been. “Dr. Oliver? Where’d he go?”

Julie took a quick peak at the screen to see the candles that Ethan had set out start to light themselves, and a bouquet fly behind Cassidy to land at Ethan’s side. As the Blue Ranger handed the bouquet to his date, Julie knew something was up.

“I think Ethan might be getting a little help,” Kira said, a smirk on her face.

“You think?” Trent said in reply.

“Who knew Dr. O had game?” Conner asked.

Julie scoffed. “You did see both Kim _and_ Katherine, right? Dr. O may have been pretty when he was younger, but he had to have some substance to date the both of them for as long as he did.”

“Wait, are those-“

Julie’s head snapped back to the screen to see Ethan and Cassidy about to dance but surrounded by Tyranno Drones!

Ethan sent Cassidy away as he morphed and started to fight the Tyranno Drones with the invisible Dr. O helping, taking them all by surprise.

“We should help,” Kira said, pushing away from the computer to stand right as the city alarms started to go off.

“We gotta take care of these guys first,” Conner said.

The four Rangers nodded at each other before moving to the middle of the lab.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

“White Ranger, Dino Power!”

They quickly made their way to the area of the disturbance, passing fleeing civilians along the way which meant they were definitely headed in the right direction. Julie joined the others in jumping onto and then off of a building to see the thorny monster from earlier and the evil White Ranger.

There wasn’t a chance to say anything before the monster yelled, “Tyranno Drones!” and summoned a bunch out of an Invisiportal.

“Let’s go!” Conner yelled.

Julie ran forward with a yell, kicking one Drone in the knee and watching it stumble before having to duck the swing of another one. She reached out and punched it once, twice, three times before her hits were enough to knock it away.

“Time to get thorny!” the monster cried out as blue electricity literally came from _nowhere_ because _of course it did_ and two giant thorns on its side started to grow until they were very large and _very_ pointy. “Now you see the point!”

Conner started to face the White Ranger as the monster made a break for Kira. Julie went to go help the other girl, but a Tyranno Drone came flying at her face.

“Watch it!” she called as she just managed to step back in time to watch it hit another of its friends and go down.

“My bad!” Trent called as he kicked another.

Julie rolled her eyes and jumped forward, grabbing a Drone by the shoulder that was heading towards Trent and yanking it back, pulling it to the ground.

She could vaguely see both Kira and Conner get thrown by their opponents and she tried to make contact with Trent so they could jump in and fight for them, but Ethan on his hovercycle came around the corner and started firing lasers at them.

“Have no fear, Blue Ranger is here!” he called as he swooped in, hitting both of the enemies with the blades of his hover cycle.

Julie let out a cheer as she turned and kicked a Drone in the chest, knocking it back.

“You go help them!” Trent called. “I can take care of these losers!”

“You got it!” Julie replied. She knocked one Drone to its knees and used its back as a placeholder to jump off of to land next to her teammates.

“That was cool!” she said, in reference to Ethan’s entrance.

“Thanks,” the Blue Ranger replied.

The four looked at each other and nodded as Conner said, “Let’s take it to the next level! Super Dino Mode!”

Julie felt her Power flow over her body as the familiar plates of the Stegosaur covered her body like armor. She may be small, but she was a _tank_ and in Super Dino Mode felt like she could take on anything.

“You’ll never get rid of this thorn in your side!” the monster cried out.

“We’ll see about that,” Conner replied, stalking forward.

Kira nodded. “You’re about to have the pruning of your life.”

“Seymour can’t save you now!” Julie added.

“We’re through playing nice!” Ethan said, cracking his joints.

The evil White Ranger snorted. “Words are pointless.” Which was all the warning they got as the two monsters jumped into the fight.

Kira and Ethan jumped to take on the thorny monster while Julie and Conner ran towards the evil clone. It swiped at them with it’s sword, but the blow glanced off of Julie’s plates as she headbutted him, knocking him back into Conner’s awaiting kick and punch combo to knock him off edge. Julie reached out and tripped him, the force of both of their blows sending him flying.

“Tyranno Staff! Energy orb!” Conner called. Julie watched as he swung his staff around in a circle and the resulting bubble that crackled with Red Power. “Full power!”

The orb left Conner and hit the clone, wrapping it up and tossing it up in the air and sending it flying back.

Julie noticed the other fight apparently went well too as the monster ran over to where the clone was trying to stand up straight.

“Don’t think this is over yet, Rangers,” the clone said, clenching his fists.

“Hardly,” Kira replied, breathing heavy.

“We don’t,” Conner said. “But this should do the trick.”

“Z-Rex Blaster!”

It had been awhile since they had summoned their combined blaster, Julie couldn’t help but notice as she got down on her knees in front of the beast of a weapon and held it up.

“Ready!”

“Aim!”

“Go!”

“Fire!”

After experiencing it firsthand from the copy monster, Julie knew that the beam that emitted from the Z-Rex Blaster was definitely a doozy. The clone jumped out of the way in time, but the blast hit the monster straight on, turning it into pieces.

The quad of Rangers didn’t have much time to celebrate, however, as the thorn monster shot up thirty stories into the sky.

“Talk about Miracle-Gro!” it gloated with a laugh.

“I can’t wait to prune this sucker,” Julie said, cracking her knuckles.

“It’s Zord time!” Conner said into his morpher.

The BrachioZord quickly made its way through the city towards them, despite its giant bulk, and Julie quickly merged with her StegoZord when it got close enough. They wasted no time in forming the Thundersaurus MegaZord, officially joining the towering monster over the city.

The monster leaped at them with a kick, hitting the MegaZord in the chest. Julie locked her legs and braced them, controlling the bottom half of the MegaZord once more.

“Try and stop me now!” the monster crowed, before roundhouse kicking them and following it up to a kick to the head.

Julie grit her teeth as she held tighter to her podium.

“Guys, we have to focus,” Conner said right as the MegaZord got hit from behind.

They turned it around and Julie panicked for a second, seeing the Dino StegoZord MegaZord that Trent once had standing in front of them, before realizing that, no, she was still in control of Stella so that had to be a copy too.

The monster and the clone both fired on them at once, knocking them to the ground roughly.

“Time to go Triassic!” the Red Ranger called.

Julie summoned her energy and sent it to Conner’s shield, putting part of her Power inside of it to give him the strength to transform. Conner jumped out of the Thundersaurus MegaZord and leaped into the cockpit of the Mesodon Rover before forming it into its own MegaZord.

“That evened things up,” Ethan said as Julie pushed their MegaZord back up on its feet.

The two groups faced off against each other, Julie breathing heavily while she waited to see which of them would make the first move. Would it be Conner? Or the monster and the clone?

“Not for long!” they heard the clone yell. She nodded at the others as their opponents pushed forward, walking forward themselves to engage in the giant robot fight.

That lasted all of two seconds as they struck their enemies, causing them to spark.

“Say goodnight,” Conner said, smoothly. “Wheel spin attack!”

What had once been the spokes on the Rover, but were now the shoulders of the Mesodon MegaZord started to spin rapidly, just like when the Thundersaurus MegaZord had the AnkyloZord attachment. Conner swiped at the thorn monster with both shoulders, hitting it directly both times.

“Don’t forget about us!” Kira called.

“Tyranno Tail!” the three other Rangers called, rearing back the spinning TyrannoZord tail and swiping it like a sword at the clone’s Dino StegoZord MegaZord copy.

Unable to keep up with their attacks, or their strength in general, both the monster and the clone’s MegaZord fell to the ground. The monster exploded on impact, thankfully, but they weren’t so lucky with the clone’s MegaZord.

“It’ll take more than that to beat me,” the clone said as it pushed its way back to its feet before it disappeared into thin air.

* * *

“Hey, wait, why is Ethan here?” Julie asked as she, Kira, Conner, and Trent walked into Cyberspace after the fight.

Conner scoffed and stalked forward, “Dude, what are you doing? Aren’t you going to finish your big date?”

They all gathered up around behind Ethan who was pretty locked in to playing some type of computer game. He barely looked up to acknowledge them at all.

“Oh that,” the Blue Ranger said, dismissively. “Well, Cassidy’s great, but I found that we really don’t have that much in common.”

“I could have told you that,” Kira replied.

“And I _definitely_ could have told you that,” Julie added. “Actually, I probably might have at one point.”

“Plus, I’m a Ranger,” Ethan continued as if the girls hadn’t interjected at all. “I got to be ready to go whenever duty calls.” He shook his head with a sigh. “I don’t know how I’m going to tell her it’s over. I think she really likes me.”

Julie bit her lip, worried for her friend. Cassidy wasn’t known for her ability to handle anger well and she could easily see how the girl would take the breakup out on her friend.

“You better think quick,” Trent said. “Here she comes.”

Panic rose on Ethan’s face as the others turned to see Cassidy walking towards them.

“I’m going to see if Hayley needs some help in the back,” Trent declared, standing up.

“I will also go do that,” Julie added, patting Ethan on the shoulder quickly.

“We’ll also go with you,” Kira said, pushing Conner who definitely wanted to stay and watch the fallout.

Trent actually tried to go in the back to do work, but Julie stopped him by pulling on his sleeve and shushing him when he tried to say something. She was trying to eavesdrop, okay?

“Uh, Cassidy, I-“

“Ethan, before you go on, there’s something I need to say,” Cassidy said, interrupting him. Julie’s eyebrows rose. What could she have to say? “I think you’re a really nice guy and I like you, but I’m a reporter and my career as to come first.”

Ethan let out a nervous laugh. “But I was going-“

“I’m sorry,” she interrupted again. “I have to be able to go whenever duty calls. I just don’t have time to get involved with anyone right now. I really hope you understand.”

Ethan turned towards them, making eye contact before he grinned brightly while Julie and Kira rolled their eyes at each other. He, thankfully, managed to compose himself before turning back.

“Yeah, I understand,” he said. “But do you think you still might have time to be friends?”

“Friends?” Cassidy asked, confused. But she smiled and said, “Yeah, that’d be great.”

The others waited until Cassidy walked off before walking back over to their friend, who fist pumped the air

“I guess everything worked out for the better, huh?” Julie asked, crossing her arms as Ethan continued to celebrate.

“And the Dating Boot Camp was successful,” Conner added.

“As long as you don’t expect a second date,” Kira joked. Julie laughed.

“Dating isn’t everything anyway,” she said. “In my opinion, friends are where it’s at.”


	22. Fighting Spirit

“So that’s what we’re going with?”

Julie, her brother, her coach, and, God forbid, her mother had all crammed themselves in Coach Theresa’s tiny office at the ice rink to go over the details and evidence explaining that the person who launched a totally tasteless video of Julie’s accident was, in fact, her co-competitor Anita Chen.

“I think that it’s the best thing that could happen,” Julie said.

She could hear Justin sigh, the only noise he had made the entire meeting. While he had been quiet, her mother had been pitching a fit the entire time. At one point, she even mentioned pressing charges.

However, Julie was 18 and could override her mother’s wishes on that front, since the incident occurred when both parties were adults.

Coach Theresa rubbed at her eyes before nodding. “I will let U.S. Figure Skating know,” she said. “Since they found that the evidence was enough to prove that it was Chen, and you got to decide her fate, Anita Chen will never skate for or with U.S. Figure Skating. This killed that girl’s career.”

“Well the incident itself almost killed my daughter,” her mother said, standing up in a huff. “Julie, Justin, are you coming?”

The Pink Ranger found herself sighing before standing up as well, her heart sinking. She just _wished_ it had been anyone but Anita. They had been friends, once upon a time, and, if not friends, than at least friendly rivals.

Jealousy was a cruel mistress.

The Stewart siblings were thankfully able to get rid of their mother pretty quickly. Angela Stewart had always been very active in her children’s lives when it was about something that mattered to her, and her daughter’s reputation reflected upon _her_ reputation, so she had to stick her nose into Julie’s business under the guise of ‘caring mother.’

Their mother got into her car to head back to Angel Grove, right as Julie’s communicator went off. Justin sighed, again, before waving her away.

“Shoo, Little Pain,” he said. “I’m going to take a nap before I go to the airport. May the-“

“Power protect me,” Julie said with a small smile. She stood on her tiptoes to kiss her brother on the cheek. “Thanks Jay. For everything.”

He ruffled her hair and pushed her away before walking to his car. “Have fun on your trip!” Julie called after him, causing him to stop and turn around as if he was going to say something. Julie, however, turned the other way and went to the back of the rink by the dumpsters before teleporting to Dr. Oliver’s house as quick as she could.

“Hey guys,” she said, appearing directly behind Conner, Ethan, and Kira as they started to walk down the stairs to the lab.

All three of them reacted differently to her appearance. Kira screamed before turning around, clutching at where her heart was like an old Southern lady clutching her pearls, Ethan tripped and fell on his face, while Conner turned and _swung_ with his fist that he was thankfully able to stop a mere _inch_ from Julie’s face.

“Don’t _do_ that,” the Red Ranger said, putting his fist down. “Seriously, Julie!”

“Sorry,” she said with a little laugh. “I figured it was better to announce my presence immediately than not. At least Ethan only managed to trip over his feet and not one of Hayley’s machines.”

“Oh, haha, very funny,” the Blue Ranger said from the ground. “Now come on, let’s get to the lab.”

Kira opened the door and led the group of teenagers down the stairs, Julie wondering at the events that had happened that caused _this_ to be her life.

“Where’s Dr. O?” Ethan asked, upon seeing Hayley sitting at the computers once they got downstairs in the lab.

“Yeah,” Kira added. “Not that we’d be able to see him if he _was_ here.”

“Hey guys,” Dr. O’s voice sounded from somewhere behind them.

Julie turned with the others and saw the familiar workout equipment emblazoned with the Dino Thunder logo was currently either moving by itself or an invisible person was using it, which, due to their circumstances, was definitely the second option.

Even though she wouldn’t place the first completely off the table. Who _knows_ what else Hayley has cooking down here?

“I’ll never get used to that,” Kira said, looking slightly disturbed. Julie could only nod hesitantly in response.

“Hey, Dr. O, no offense, but what’s the point of building your biceps if nobody’s gonna see them?” Conner asked, crossing his arms and showing off _his_ biceps. Kira elbowed Julie with a suggestive look and she resisted the urge to stomp on the Yellow Ranger’s toes in return.

The weights that their invisible teammate had been lifting dropped to the ground as the machine stopped moving, “Well, that’s the reason why I called you here,” Dr. Oliver said. “Hayley found a way to bring me back to normal.”

“Seriously?” Julie asked, surprised. She turned to see Hayley stand up and walk towards them, with a not so happy face

“Well, that’s great!” Kira said.

“What are we waiting for?” Ethan asked. “Let’s do it!”

Hayley sighed, irritated. “Hold on, everybody.” She pushed past the group of teenagers to stand in front of where Julie _thought_ Dr. O might be. “Tommy, I told you, I think the remoleculizer may make you visible again, but I haven’t found a power source strong enough for it yet.”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” Dr. O replied. A black box started floating, which meant he picked it up. He brought the box over to Hayley while saying, “Maybe we should use this.”

Hayley took the box from him and opened it, before gasping and shutting it quickly before any of the Rangers could see it. “No way! Forget it.”

“We gotta try something,” Dr. Oliver said, a pleading edge to his voice. “My Dino Gtem is the most powerful source of energy we have.”

Julie exchanged looks with the others. Mom and Dad had never fought before.

“”Powerful” being the operative word,” Hayley replied. “I have no idea how your body will react to it. It’s way too risky.”

“Hayley, we don’t have a choice,” Dr. O said, plainly.

Julie bit her lip, chewing it thoughtfully as she watched Hayley try and figure out what to do.

* * *

An hour later, Hayley sent them on their tasks. They were going to use the Black Dino Gem whether she liked it or not, so she needed everyone to pitch in. Or, at least look like they were busy so she didn’t snap at them.

Which had already happened to Conner. Twice.

Julie handed a blanket from upstairs to the red head as Conner fiddled with a machine that they weren’t going to use at all in the appearance of trying to make himself look occupied so Hayley wouldn’t yell again. Hayley took the blanket and draped it over Dr. Oliver’s invisible body as it lay on their one hospital bed.

“For the record,” she said to him, quietly. “I still think this is a bad idea.”

“And for the record, I agree with Hayley,” Kira said, stepping in.

“I third the motion,” Julie said, raising her hand.

“Don’t worry,” Dr. O said placatingly. “I’ll be fine.”

Ethan sighed and walked up with two defibrillator pads that would channel the Black Dino Gem’s power into their teacher. Kira picked up her own two while Julie stood, anxiously, watching. She was going to bite a hole clean through her lip if she kept chewing on it from the stress of today.

“See you soon, Dr. O. Literally, I hope,” the Blue Ranger said as he and Kira placed the pads on Dr. Oliver’s chest.

“Okay,” Hayley said from over by the machine that they had used to transport the slime to Dr. Oliver originally, but the little container was now holding the Dino Gem. She hesitated, for a moment, before putting it all the way in.

“Good to go,” Dr. O said from his spot on the bed.

Julie looked to the others, anxiously, before turning to face Dr. O. She saw Hayley, out of the corner of her eye, start to turn knobs on the machine.

This was it.

“Initiating sequence,” the red head said, looking back and forth from the machine to the empty spot where Dr. O was laying.

The whirring of the machines started and, almost immediately, the little pads attached to Dr. Oliver’s chest started to rapidly move up and down as his breathing got heavier and heavier.

“Is that supposed to happen?” Julie couldn’t help but ask, concerned.

“Is everything okay?” Kira added.

The blanket that Dr. O was under started to move more vigorously, his legs shaking from whatever force was being exerted onto his body. There was the sound of crackle and a hiss and the machine started to smoke!

“It’s overloading!” Hayley exclaimed.

Julie grabbed onto Kira’s arm to keep herself from shaking as Dr. Oliver continued to writhe on the table.

“What’s happening?” Kira asked.

“The energy attenuator’s shut down,” Hayley explained, panicked. “He’s receiving full current!”

At that, the machine sparked and let out a loud noise, startling Julie as Hayley ran over and started to fiddle with the knobs before she eventually just flipped the off switch. The machine stopped sparking and stopped whirring all at once.

Hayley reached into the machine and, quickly due to the temperature, pulled out the container that had once held Dr. O’s Dino Gem, but now contained only three fragments.

“It’s completely destroyed,” she said, sighing.

However, whatever it had managed to do must have been enough as Dr. O’s form slowly started to flicker into being as if he was releasing the invisibility himself. Julie and the others all ran over to him, but his eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow.

Hayley pushed past them, yelling “Tommy!” Her breathing started to get quicker as she added. “Can you hear me?”

But Dr. Oliver didn’t move.

“Conner, Ethan,” Hayley started. “Pick him up and put him in his Jeep. Kira, ride with me. Julie, go with the boys and meet us at Reefside Hospital.”

“Right,” they all replied, getting into gear.

As Kira and Hayley went to track down Dr. O’s keys for Jeep, the boys unstuck the pads from his chest and picked him up as gently as they could. Julie quickly went around and gathered everyone’s wallets and keys and phones that they had sat down before heading outside.

The boys gently put Dr. O in the backseat, his head on Kira’s lap to hold him steady as Hayley quickly put the car into reverse and backed out of the gravel driveway. They wasted no time in hopping into Conner’s car, Julie squeezing through the seats just like before, and Conner took off after them.

Julie fiddled with her phone. This was definitely something Justin needed to know about, right? He could get the message out to all of Dr. O’s past teammates and they could definitely help _somehow_.

So, going against every order to keep the situation that had started from ‘stuck in the suit’ to ‘invisibility’ and now to… whatever this was on the down low, Julie sent an emergency text to her brother.

_“Dr. O going to ER. We don’t know what’s wrong. SOS.”_

* * *

It didn’t take long for them to get Dr. Oliver’s unconscious body in a room and start running tests. It did, however, take them awhile before they finally allowed Hayley and the group of teenagers inside since they weren’t immediate family or his significant other.

Dr. O looked so small in the bed, Julie noticed as she held her arms tightly around herself and concentrated solely on sending whatever mental energies she could at her teacher, hoping he’d wake up soon.

“What’s wrong with him, doctor?” Hayley asked once Dr. O’s main physician, Dr. Walsh, came back in the room.

The man sighed. “I have no idea, Hayley,” he said. “He’s… well, his vitals are stable, but his- his brain patterns are wildly erratic.”

“Can you get him out of it?” Kira asked. He cut her a confused look.

“Well, we’re trying,” he explained. “But he’s not responding to anything.”

“But he’s going to be okay, right?” Ethan interjected.

Julie nodded. “Yeah, you said everything is physically fine.”

Dr. Walsh stumbled over his words a minute and Julie watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed while he swallowed.

“I’m not going to lie to you,” he started. “The longer he stays like this, the more at risk he is.”

Julie vaguely heard Kira thank the doctor and him give some platitude in return to make them feel better before leaving the room.

“Oh, Tommy,” said a familiar, accented voice from the doorway. “What have you gotten yourself in to now?”

Everyone quickly turned towards the door to see Justin and Katherine standing there. Justin was anxiously fiddling with his keys while Katherine stood, tall, but the look on her face was clearly worried for her friend and ex-boyfriend.

“Julie, did you-“ Kira started in on her, about messaging her brother, before the TV in the corner started going off.

_“Breaking news. The city is under attack by a terrifying creature! Citizens are advised to stay indoors until further notice.”_

“We will be talking about this,” Conner said, directed at her.

“I’ll stay with him,” Hayley said, looking at Katherine confused.

“We’ll be here too,” the former Pink Ranger said, walking over to the bed. She reached out and patted Dr. Oliver’s head in a way that Julie would refer to as ‘lovingly.’

Justin sighed from the doorway. “I’ve let the others know, they’re making arrangements to get here,” he said. “Julie, guys, may the Power protect you.”

The teenagers nodded at the former Blue Ranger.

“We’ll be back as soon as we can,” Conner said.

* * *

The Rangers quickly morphed and summoned their Raptor Cycles to them so they could ride them to where the monster was without having to go all the way back to the lab to get them.

The monster, once they were finally able to catch up to it, looked like Terrorsaurus 2.0. Twice as ugly and twice as terrifying.

“At last!” it cried out once it saw them. “Just who I wanted to see!”

It fired a blast at Conner who barely avoided it as he ramped off of one of the destroyed cars and into the air.

“Tyranno Staff!” he called, summoning the staff as he drove. Julie watched from farther back as he jumped up on his seat while the Cycle was still moving and jumped off directly in front of the monster, swinging at it with his staff.

They fought for a second before Terrorsaurus 2.0 fired a laser at him, knocking him to the ground.

“Ready?” she called to the others.

“Lasers!” Ethan yelled.

“Fire!” Kira commanded.

From three different angles, the other three Rangers ramped off other destroyed cars and shot their lasers at the monster as Conner stood back up.

However, before he could make it far, the Terrorsaurus fired a laser at him and knocked him immediately back off his feet.

“Conner!” Julie shouted. She quickly stopped her Cycle and hopped off. “Stego Axe!”

Ethan and Kira both had the same idea, summoning their own weapons. The trio of Rangers jumped in to try and help their friend, but Terrorsaurus shot lasers at _them_ too, knocking them out of the air.

Julie landed roughly on the ground, all of the air knocked out of her lungs as she somehow kept a tight hold on her Axe.

This wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Fire!” she heard, along with the repetitive noises of lasers firing, as Trent and his ATV rode up out of nowhere.

“Trent!” Conner called. Julie wondered who had called the White Ranger in the first place, or if he just knew to come on his own.

His lasers mostly bounced off of Terrorsaurus, but a couple did manage to land as he swooped by.

“Great, another one!” the monster said angrily. He reared back his arms and fired another burst of energy in Trent’s direction. It hit him directly, but it also hit his ATV and caused it to flip. He barely managed to roll out of the way of the vehicle before it crushed him.

“Trent!” Kira called, worried, as the four of them managed to struggle to their feet. Julie gasped as the damage from the monster’s blast was enough to break Trent’s morph, their teammate lying on the ground and completely exposed.

“What are we gonna do?” Julie asked.

“I’m going in,” Ethan said. He let out a yell and started to run towards the monster, jumping on top of a destroyed car that was in the way and jumping at it to get closer, but the monster shot a burst of energy at him and knocking him out of the air.

Julie heard Kira gasp and the three of them ran up, trying to get to Ethan to help him, but Terrorsaurus fired another blast at them and knocking them back.

Whatever was in that last energy blast packed a punch as Julie felt her morph break. The gravel and debris that she had landed on was now digging into her skin instead of her protective suit and she could feel every bit of it. She yelped as a jolt of electricity came from her morpher.

“Hovercraft Cycle!” Ethan yelled, somehow still morphed, as he jumped back onto his Raptor Cycle to transform the vehicle. The monster turned back around to face him as Ethan flew towards him. “Thrusters!”

Terrorsaurus managed to avoid all of the blasts from Ethan before it jumped up into the air and _onto the back_ of Ethan’s Cycle! She watched as it sucked some sort of energy from her friend and booted him off his own vehicle. He landed on a pile of bricks and she thought he was able to hold the morph, but it broke a couple of seconds later.

“Ethan!” Conner yelled as the three of them ran over to their friend. Between the three of them, they managed to get Ethan to his feet but Julie noticed his morpher sparking too and wondered if everyone else’s did as well.

This _definitely_ wasn’t good.

Trent made his way over to them, helping to hold Ethan up as Conner said, “This guy has worked my last nerve.” The Red Ranger glanced at all four of them before following up with, “Ready?”

“Ready!”

Julie pulled her morpher in front of her and, with the others, shouted, “Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!” but whenever she pushed the button that initiated the morphing sequence nothing happened.

Nothing at all.

The others were also experiencing the same thing. Julie watched as Conner, confused, continued to hit the button.

“Hey, what’s going on?” he asked.

“That thing fried out morphing energy,” Ethan said, stunned.

The monster laughed. “Not so tough now, are you?” He then turned around and jumped away, quickly disappearing into the city.

“He’s gone!” Trent yelled.

“What are we gonna do?” Julie asked, holding onto her morpher with her other hand. “How can we beat him?”

“Hey guys!”

Julie turned, shocked, as both Cassidy and Devin ran up to them in the middle of the battlefield with Devin carrying his trusty camera.

“Oh, my goodness,” Cassidy said, placing her hands on her hips. “What happened to you guys?”

The Pink Ranger gaped at the two of them, wondering what they could even say to explain why they were at the center of the destruction, but thankfully Kira found something to say.

“Uh, things are a bit fuzzy,” the Yellow Ranger started. “But I’d say a giant mutant attack.”

If this was a children’s television show, Julie would have immediately face palmed.

“Didn’t the Power Rangers come help you out?” Cassidy asked, confused.

“No,” Trent said, warily. “I guess they… uh, couldn’t make it.”

“Yeah,” Conner added. “No Power Rangers anywhere near here.”

She watched as Devin shook his head and she felt her heart rise in her throat. “That’s weird. They usually show up whenever anyone needs them.”

“Well, maybe they’re at the laundromat washing those shiny suits,” Kira threw out. Julie let out a low groan as Ethan subtly stepped on her foot to try and get her to be quiet.

This was useless! They had completely blown their cover with the biggest Wannabe Journalists in town! They were _screwed_!

“We need to get back to the newsroom,” Cassidy said towards her friend. “We _have_ to talk to Cormier. Now!”

The two of them quickly turned around and left, not mentioning anything about the numerous holes in their story.

“A laundromat, Kira?” Julie couldn’t help but ask once they were out of earshot. “Seriously?”

“What? Like you came up with anything better.”

“I was just going to hit them,” Conner added. “Knock ‘em out, ya know? Maybe they’d think it was a hallucination or something.”

“Conner!” the two girls yelled, turning to him.

Ethan coughed. “Hey, we should get back to the hospital. Maybe Dr. O’s woken up.”

Oh, right.

* * *

“Any news?” Julie asked her brother as they walked back into the hospital room. The other Rangers all took up a spot on the side of Dr. O’s bed opposite from where Hayley and Kat were both sitting, Katherine at the head and Hayley near Dr. O’s feet.

Justin shook his head. “Nothing yet. His vitals are still good, but there’s still no sign of him waking up. How was the big bad?”

She sighed. “Not good. It’s like the 2.0 version of one that seriously wrecked us a couple of months back. It knocked all of us out of morphs and we couldn’t morph again.”

He hissed. “That’s not good.”

“You’re telling me.” A beat. “Why is Katherine here?”

Justin let out a puff of air, almost a laugh. “She was coming to see you as a belated birthday present,” he said. “I thought I had mentioned it at one point.”

Julie shrugged. “I guess I must have missed it. It’s been a busy few weeks, after all. Is she okay?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea. When I told her that something was wrong with Tommy, she almost ran here herself and I had to convince her to get in the car and let me drive her. I know they broke up ages ago, but it was a distance thing and not an actual ‘Not-Liking’ each other thing.”

“Is there anything you can tell us?” she heard Hayley ask from next to Dr. O’s bed. Justin grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to the group. She stood on Hayley and Katherine’s side and placed a hand on her Color Sister’s shoulder, using her other hand to fiddle with the pendant that hung around her neck.

Kat hadn’t looked up from Dr. O’s unconscious form at all.

“I’m sorry,” Dr. Walsh said. “There’s no change.”

The red head sighed and stood up, holding onto the footboard of the bed for support.

“I wish there was something we could do,” Kira said from the other side of the bed. “I feel completely helpless.”

“You’re telling me,” Julie added. Katherine reached up and squeezed the hand she had on her shoulder and Julie squeezed back.

“Dr. Oliver’s pretty tough,” Conner said with a smile. “I mean, he gave me a C- on my term paper.”

“And he was being generous,” the Yellow Ranger added.

“Remember when he gave me a _seven-page_ paper on Paleontology?” Julie asked. “It took a week to come up with all of the sources for it.”

“And that was because you told me, right?” Justin asked. “And then I told everyone else. I think Rocky has started to call him Krampus.”

The news report buzzed back on with the same man from before saying , _”Breaking news. The creature is back.”_

“I had a feeling he’d be back,” Ethan said.

Trent sighed, angrily. “There’s nothing we can do about it.”

_“Where are the Power Rangers?”_

Julie clenched her fist, angrily.

They needed Dr. O, and they needed him _fast._

_“Again, I ask, where are the Power Rangers?”_

Conner let out a growl. “That’s it,” he said. “You guys can stay here and watch this, but I can’t.”

He moved away from his bed and made towards the door to go and fight the monster and the other made eye contact, quickly, and unanimously agreed.

“Hold up,” Ethan said.

“We’re going with you,” Kira added.

“Tommy will be fine,” Katherine said, stopping them all in their tracks for a moment with the first words that she had said since arriving. “I have faith.”

The five teenagers looked at each other and nodded.

“Hey, where are you going?” Hayley asked, concerned. “You don’t stand a chance without your Powers!”

“That wouldn’t stop Dr. O,” Ethan shouted back as he exited the room. “And it’s not going to stop us either.” Julie made brief eye contact with Justin who nodded at her.

They had a monster to defeat.

* * *

It took them awhile, the Rangers in their unmorphed forms, to make it to the quarry where the monster was last sighted according to the news briefings on Conner’s radio. Three people could fit in his car just fine, four was a stretch, but as Kira sat in both Julie and Trent’s lap, they realized that a small car like Conner’s wasn’t meant to hold five people.

Julie prayed that they wouldn’t be stopped by the cops as they made their way out of town.

The five of them piled out of the car and immediately started running when they saw a horrific light show from the inside of the quarry, knowing that that was where the monster had to be. They skidded to a stop in front of Terrorsaurus 2.0 as they crested over the hill.

“All right, freak,” Conner said. “We’re gonna stop you. Right here and now!”

“Tough talk from a bunch of Powerless Rangers,” the monster gloated, smug.

The five dropped into fighting stances before all running forward towards the monster, ready to do whatever they could.

Terrorsaurus fired a couple of blasts at them that just barely managed to miss and hit behind them before he fired another one that landed on the ground in front of them. The impact of the blast and the resulting fire that it created sent them flying backwards, only to land roughly on the ground.

Julie groaned as she looked up, trying to push herself up and to her feet through the pain.

“You’re through!” the monster yelled.

Not taking that, Julie and the others stood up and ran forwards. Conner went for a kick while Trent went for a punch, both missed as Julie ran in and tried to kick him as well but was knocked aside. Conner and Trent each went to hold one of it’s arms so Kira and Ethan could try and get a strike in, but it easily knocked them loose and batted the other around like they were flies.

“This is pathetic,” it said.

“No, you’re pathetic,” Julie mocked, quietly. However, it seems like it heard her and fired a blast at the group of them. The five managed to dodge, but it hit close enough behind them that they were thrown forward.

“Maybe don’t antagonize the monster,” Trent said once he got the air back in his lungs from where it was knocked out.

“It’s over,” Terrorsaurus said.

Julie looked up at it and knew that it was true. They were done for. Hopefully, another team that still managed to keep their Powers would be able to come in and defeat Mesogog because there was no way they were making it out of this fight.

“Am I dead?” Ethan asked, stunned. “Or is that who I think it is?”

The Pink Ranger looked up, having accepted her fate, to see someone that looked like Dr. Oliver jumping into the action and kicking the monster square in the chest.

“If you’re dead, then we all are,” she said, watching in awe as his kick sent the monster flying. She had always known that Dr. Oliver was the strongest of them all, but this was something else.

“Dr. O!” Conner called out, somehow finding the energy to push himself back to his feet. The others followed, eager to see their teammate.

“You’re alive!” Kira exclaimed.

Dr. O smirked at them and nodded as the monster said, “Not for long!”

The Black Ranger turned away from them and the smile on his face fell off as he called his morpher, which Julie hadn’t thought to be possible since his Dino Gem was destroyed.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha! Brachio Power!”

He stood, in his suit, and Julie couldn’t help but be happy to see the thing again even if it was all they saw for over a month since he was stuck in it.

“Big deal,” Terrorsaurus said in response as it fired a mighty laser from its chest. It missed and Dr. O jumped, soaring forward. He kicked the monster multiple times and sent him flying down further into the quarry.

Stunned, the group of teenagers didn’t know what to do as their teacher stood on the edge of their level and yelled, “Super Dino Mode!” and transformed.

Julie couldn’t recall him every going into Super Dino Mode before, but the golden diamonds on the seams of his suit expanded, becoming both armor like _and_ vicious weapons. He looked extremely intimidating.

“Whoa!” Conner exclaimed. “When did he get Super Dino Powers?”

“I don’t know,” Ethan replied, stunned. “But he picked a good time to bust ‘em out.”

“Go Dr. O!” Julie called, cheering.

They watched as he jumped off of the cliff to avoid another blast from the monster and ran to the edge to continue to watch the fight as their teacher was back in action. At first, it looked like the two were evenly matched as neither managed to land a hit on the other, but then Dr. O started to use his Super Dino Mode spikes and slash at the monster once, twice, three times before he grabbed it and _swung him around_ before throwing him into the cliff side.

Instead of exploding, the monster managed to quickly get to his feet.

“Energy Orb, now!” Dr. O said, summoning his Brachio Staff. He swung it in a circle and formed a ball of purple energy and sent it straight at the monster, hitting it square in the face and the bubble of energy absorbed him.

Finally, Terrorsaurus 2.0 exploded where he fell. Julie had to hold onto Trent’s shoulder to keep herself standing as the resulting blast shook the quarry they were in.

She, along with he others, crawled their way down to where Dr. O was as they waited with baited breath to see if the monster was going to grow, but a white light shot out of where the monster had been standing and smashed into the ground – breaking into five pieces.

Julie stopped in her tracks as a pink ball of energy flew out of it and straight at her before going into her own Dino Gem and saw that the others had the same thing with their own respective colors happen.

“Check it out!” Ethan said. “We got our Powers back!”

Shaking off the sudden reinflux of her Power, Julie joined the others in running up to their teacher.

“Okay, what was that about?” Conner asked.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I don’t you,” Dr. O replied. “Huh?”

“Oh no,” Julie said, watching as he looked up. She followed his eyesight and groaned at the giant Terrorsaurus 2.0 that was now towering over them.

“You didn’t think I’d give up _that_ easily, did you?” it asked, it’s voice echoing off of the cliff walls around them.

“You think you four can finish this guy?” Dr. O asked.

Conner scoffed. “Totally. Ready?”

“Ready!”

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

The four Rangers immediately morphed and summoned their Zords. It was probably a record breaker for the time it took a team to fully morph and combine their Zords into their MegaZord, but Julie didn’t exactly know how she could calculate that, but it took literally no time at all before they were standing across from Terrorsaurus.

The Thundersaurus MegaZord started running forwards as the Terrorsaurus started firing laser blasts at them. Julie steadied her legs, but the attacks hit high enough on the MegaZord that it tipped them over backwards, causing them to crash on the ground as the insides started to spark.

“If Dr. Oliver can win his fight, so we can we!” Kira called, emboldened by the strength they had seen from their teacher and teammate.

“You’re right, Kira,” Ethan said.

“Let’s give it everything we got!” Conner called.

“I’m ready whenever you guys are,” Julie added.

“Super Dino Mode!”

All four Rangers transformed into their Super Dino Modes and, as one, they latched their gloved hands into their control centers like claws and pushed the energy through to the Thundersaurus MegaZord. Julie felt the pure Power course through the giant robot as it pushed its way to its feet and started to glow.

“Dino Drill!” Conner called.

Terrorsaurus started to try to fire blasts at them, but they just glanced off as they yelled, in unison, “Full power!”

The spinning drill arm of the Tyranno tail lodged itself inside the monster, stabbing it through the center. The Rangers let out a ‘Hyah!’ as the drill started to spin _inside the monster_ , causing it to start to spark before it finally exploded – sending pieces of itself flying through the air.

“Oh, yeah!”

* * *

“Okay, let me get this straight,” Ethan said, later, once they were back at the lab. “Three of your old Ranger Powers came to you in a dream?”

“And you had to fight them to get your life back?” Conner asked.

“This is awesome!” Ethan interrupted. “It’s like all the Power Rangers-“

“Guys,” Dr. O said, interrupting them with a smile on his face. And Julie would be the first to admit that it was nice to see his smile again. “You know, I just want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart,” he started to get serious now and Julie reached up and held tight to her pendant necklace. “For hanging in there with me through all this. It was tough, but you guys came through. It means a lot to me.”

“He’s right,” Hayley added, from beside him. “You should be really proud of yourselves.”

“I can tell you’ve worked hard,” Katherine said, from Dr. O’s other side. “If everything I heard was true, you guys have shown true courage in this fight.”

“You’ve gone up against all kinds of odds that, honestly, didn’t seem in your favor,” Justin added. “But you’ve pulled through with your own strength and dignity.”

Someone started to sniffle and, for a moment, Julie thought that it was her, but she turned to see that it was instead Conner who was looking at the ground.

“Are you crying?” Ethan asked.

“No,” the Red Ranger replied, his voice thick. “We’re just really glad to have you back, Dr. O.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Dr. O is back to normal! Also, I'm switching a few chapters around so get ready for Monday because it's gonna be a Storm-y chapter!


	23. Thunder Storm Part 1

Julie couldn’t help but bop along to the music as the moved behind the counter at Cyberspace preparing drinks. She 100% knew that she didn’t need to continue working there, especially since Trent was back and Hayley had found the payroll to hire two additional people. But even though she was beyond busy with all of her final exams coming up, Julie actually _liked_ working there.

Which was weird, but so far only Justin had laughed at her for it.

Trent, himself, and Kira were actually there that day studying and Julie had gone over to hang with them a couple of times and chat before Kira’s cutting looks and dismissive remarks made her stay away.

The Yellow Ranger seriously could have just told her she was on a study date instead of being mean about it.

Still, Julie didn’t mind since she was texting Conner the whole time anyway to make fun of their two teammates and completely avoided thinking about the fact that she wished it were _her_ _and Conner_ on the study date instead.

“Hey,” a customer said, causing Julie to look up.

It was a couple of new people that she had definitely never seen before. Julie had worked enough between her many activities to know who the regulars and even the ‘sometimers’ as Hayley had called them once were, and these two? Definitely didn’t fall into either category.

“Hey!” she replied to the guy, who was wearing a blue ball cap pulled pretty low over his eyes as if he were hiding. “Welcome to Hayley’s Cyberspace. What can I getcha?”

“Hey, yeah,” the guy said. “Can I get, uh, a banana smoothie? And my friend here wants-“

“Your number, definitely,” his friend said.

Julie plastered a smile on her face that she _knew_ looked like a grimace as the guy in the blue hat hit his friend.

“ _My friend_ is just joking and wants a root beer, isn’t that right?”

“Oh yeah, that too.”

The Pink Ranger rolled her eyes. “A banana smoothie and a root beer, hold the phone number, coming right up.”

The man in the hat nodded at her with a grateful smile while slapping his friend again who only winked at her, but she turned to get to work.

It wasn’t the first time she was hit on at Cyberspace, not by a longshot, but, obviously, Julie had never taken anyone seriously. She was way too busy with work and school and being a Ranger to even think about dating anyone – they had seen how disastrous the attempt that Ethan had made with Cassidy and she didn’t even want to try and figure out how to fit spending time with someone else into her schedule.

“Hey, do we know each other?” Julie heard Kira ask the guys, out of nowhere. The Pink Ranger turned around to see that Kira had left Trent on the couch and walked over. Trent was still sitting with his book open, but Julie noticed him looking up every few seconds to try and eavesdrop on the conversation.

How cute, he was jealous.

“I don’t think so,” the guy in the hat replied. “I’m Blake.” He reached out and shook Kira’s hand. “This is Jesse.”

“Also, the future Mr. Whatever-Her-Name-Is,” the other guy, Jesse, said. Julie turned to see him pointing at her.

Kira turned to her with her eyebrows raised and Julie just shook her head as she slid the boys their drinks. “Someone has delusions of grandeur about dating a _high schooler_.”

Jesse winced.

“Blake, you just look so familiar to me,” Kira finally said, back to the subject at hand. Julie actively looked at the man, but honestly couldn’t place him. The only distinctive thing about him was that he was Asian and rather good looking, but that meant nothing.

“Do you follow motocross?” Blake asked, taking off his hat.

Julie snorted as Kira replied, “No. Why, is that what you do?” She slid a bottle of apple juice over to her friend, to make up for the snorting.

Kira and sports? Yeah right.

Out of nowhere, Steve, a regular at Cyberspace, walked up with his notebook open with a pen and asked Blake for an autograph literally in the middle of his conversation, but Blake sighed the brim of his cap and gave it to him instead.

“Yeah, that happens sometimes,” Jesse said, leaning over to her. “He’s a big name.”

“No, I get it,” she replied. “It’s happened to me too. Sometimes fans are just so rude, ya know? Like, can’t you see he’s trying to have a conversation?”

His jaw dropped as he looked at her in confusion, unable to place her, but she winked in return and instead leaned against the counter to be closer to the conversation between her friend and the strangers.

“Okay, so you’re famous for riding a motorcycle?” Kira asked, kind of confused.

Blake let out a laugh. “Don’t be surprised.”

“No! It’s just, uh, I didn’t know,” Kira replied, following after him as he started to walk away. As they wandered off, Jesse turned back to Julie.

“So, what about you? Modeling? Easy with that pretty face. Acting? You have the expressions for it.”

Julie rolled her eyes again as she wiped at the counter where Blake’s banana smoothie made a condensation ring. “Why, because that’s all that girls are good for?” The other boy started to sputter and she laughed. “Chill. Nah, I’m a figure skater. And a pretty good one, if I do say so myself.”

Jesse stared at her, dumbly, as he too wandered off as Blake pulled him over to play foosball. Julie just shook her head in return.

Not wanting to be left out, and because she was bored, she gave a quick glance to the bar to see that no one needed her before she too walked over to the foosball table.

“Well, why don’t you come see for yourself,” Blake offered her friend as she walked up. “The Nationals are this week at Reefside MX Park. Bring some friends, I’ll get you passes.”

“Are you asking me out?” Kira replied back, a small grin on her face.

“Oh, yeah man,” Jesse said. “We can totally go on double dates!”

“Again, _high school_ ,” Julie added, laughing.

Blake let out a laugh. “No, it’s nothing like that. Look, part of being a rider is spreading the word of our sport. You know, getting people to come out who never would on their own.” He smiled at Kira at her conflicted look. “I promise you, you’ll totally be into it.”

Julie snorted. “As if-“

“Okay.”

The Pink Ranger nearly snapped her neck as she turned to her friend, her jaw dropped as she agreed. Kira? At a _sport_? She had never once gone to one of Conner’s games or seen Julie skate. She turned back to Blake to realize, that yes, his looks probably had something to do with it.

“Here you go,” Jesse said, pulling a small stack of laminated cards out of his pocket (how did he just _have_ those?) and handing them to her, before giving one to Julie separately. “And one for you too, Princess.”

She scrunched her nose up at the nickname, unused to it coming from anyone other than Conner at this point. Even Ethan had dropped it. “Don’t call me Princess,” she said, still taking the offered card, which turned out to be a VIP pass to the motocross event.

Kira awkwardly said her goodbyes to the pair of guys and Julie followed her, nodding at them in goodbye herself, and threw herself on the couch next to Trent.

“Kira made a _friend_ ,” she stressed, laughing.

Kira reached over the White Ranger and slapped at her. “Looks like you did too, didn’t you _Princess_?”

Julie gagged a little. “Oh, yeah, no. I hate that.”

“You never mind when Conner-“

“I. Hate. That,” Julie stressed through gritted teeth, interrupting Trent before he could even finish his sentence. Kira laughed and threw a wad of paper at her.

“Julie? A little help?”

The Pink Ranger nodded at her boss and stood up, throwing her dish rag at her friend before going back behind the bar.

* * *

“So, is there a point to motocross other than jumping over dirt hills?” Julie asked as the Rangers, minus Trent who had to do something with his dad, arrived at Reefside MX Park.

“I honestly have no idea,” Ethan replied, rubbing his hands together. “But look! It’s so cool!”

“I wonder if we could do this on our Raptor Cycles?” Conner asked, eagerly looking around. Julie watched was he caught sight of what could only be motocross groupies and gave a little wave in their direction.

“I’m just glad Blake got us in,” Kira said. “I mean, look at that line.”

 _“Alright folks! We’re ready to start the first 125 Moto!”_ came a voice over the PA system.

Ethan slapped Kira’s arm, “Oh, let’s get over there! I don’t want to miss the start.”

He started up a jog and Julie couldn’t help but grin at his excitement and following him until they came to rope and tape barricade that separated the viewing area from the track. Thirteen riders were lined up at the start, all on different colored bikes.

“Look!” Kira said. “There’s Blake!”

“What color?” Conner asked.

“One of the blue ones, I think,” Julie answered. “There, right there beside the green guy.”

 _“The 30 second board is up!”_ The PA system announced. The Pink Ranger started to bounce in place, the excitement in the air for the race infecting her.

The little gates that stood in front of each rider started to drop as they all started to rev their engines. When it finally reached the ground, the PA voice said, _“The gate is down, and they’re off!”_

Julie cupped her hands around her mouth and let out a loud cheer along with everyone else. Dirt and mud were flying everywhere, causing a small dust cloud to raise up. It was going to kill her sinuses, but it just looked so _cool_.

_“Blake Bradley’s got the hole shot!”_

Julie quickly lost sight of Blake in the crowd of racers, everyone zooming by super quickly and disappearing around turns. One guy lost control of his bike and ended up hitting a wall of hay and flying off before crashing into the ground.

_“Blake Bradley is tearing it up out there! He’s all but checked out in this first moto!”_

“I don’t know what any of this means, but this is _great_ ,” Conner said, cheering on Blake once Kira managed to point him out.

“It’s so exciting,” Julie said as she watched another dude wreck into another wall of hay. “But, also dangerous.”

“Danger, shmanger,” Ethan said. “Look at ‘em go!”

 _“And Blake Bradley wins again!”_ was yelled over the PA system as Blake crossed the finish line, holding his arms above his head.

Julie and the others cheered loudly, clapping for the guy who had gotten them in for free.

“Yes! That was awesome!” Kira yelled at them over the noise. Julie held out a hand for a high five when the girl offered it and laughed.

“It really was! And there’s supposed to be more!” she said with a wide smile.

“We’ll have to stay for the whole thing,” Ethan insisted. Julie felt herself nodding with the others.

“So, what’d you think?” Blake asked them after the race, once he got a little break and could escape from his adoring fans. The introductions between him and the boys went well, with Ethan and Conner basking in Blake’s win with him. Thankfully, Jesse was off doing something else, so Julie didn’t have to deal with the older man.

“It was awesome,” Kira said, smoothly.

“It was fun! I thought I’d be really bored,” Julie added. “No offense.”

The man laughed. “None taken. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Thanks for hooking us up man,” Conner said.

“No problem guys,” Blake said as he made his way to a trailer that read his sponsor’s name, ‘Factory Blue’, on the side. “Listen, what are you guys doing tonight? You wanna grab a bite?”

He was interrupted as something started to beep. Julie discretely looked to her communicator, but it wasn’t the source of the sound. She then watched as Blake turned around to what could only be his bag and grabbed a necklace with a pendant out of it, which seemed to be the source of the beeping.

Blake sighed. “Uh, I take that back. Looks like we’re gonna have to reschedule.”

“Is everything okay?” Kira asked.

“Yeah, I hope so,” Blake replied, sounding slightly confused. “Listen, it was really nice meeting you. I’ll see you guys later!”

He turned to run off and a thought hit Julie. “You know, you were right Kira,” she said. “He does look _really_ familiar.”

“That was kinda weird,” Kira said, shaking her head in confusion.

And then their communicator’s beeped.

“Not so weird,” Ethan said.

“Let’s go,” Conner added. Julie nodded and the four Rangers left the track to head to the lab.

Blake’s beeping and their beeping couldn’t be the same thing, right?

 _Right_?

* * *

The group didn’t talk much as they made their way to the lab, still coming down from the adrenaline of the day and feeling the ever-encroaching dread of what they could possibly be facing next.

They arrived at Dr. O’s house and quickly made their way down to the lab. Julie was startled to see not just Hayley, Trent, and Dr. O in front of the computer, but Katherine there as well. She had _sworn_ the woman had left to head back home a couple of weeks ago.

She was also standing _really_ close to Dr. Oliver and Julie didn’t even want to think about the implications of that.

“What’s up, Dr. O?” Julie asked as they started to walk closer.

“It’s not good,” their mentor replied, not looking at them and instead focusing on the screen. “Look.”

“Evil Power Rangers? How is that even possible?” Kira asked, once she got close enough to see the footage on the computer monitors. Julie quickly moved forward, hoping that the girl was wrong.

But no, three Rangers in Red, Blue, and Yellow were walking through the streets with two creatures that could only be Monsters-of-the-Week and a bunch of skinny creatures with ponytails. They were just walking, but the monsters with them were destroying things and scaring off the civilians.

“Did the Tyranno Drones go on a diet?” Julie asked. “Or are those not Tyranno Drones?”

“I thought we were the only ones left,” Trent added.

Hayley sighed. “So did we. There’s been an evil energy surge over the past 24 hours. We think the Abyss of Evil has been opened up.”

“Dr. O, do you think Lothor’s back?” Kira asked, recognizing that the Rangers were in fact that Ninja Rangers.

“Unfortunately,” the Black Ranger replied. “But there’s only one way to find out.”

“Let’s deal with these fakes,” Conner said.

Dr. O nodded. “Trent, Julie, you stay here with us. This is just the kind of opportunity Mesogog would take advantage of.”

Disheartened, Julie nodded at her mentor as Conner, Ethan, and Kira walked to the center of the room to morph. Ethan’s words from months back seemed to actually take hold.

They really _were_ two separate groups of Rangers, huh?

Julie kept half of her attention on her teammates as they morphed and half on the screens where the others were continually looking. Katherine, at one point, reached out and rubbed her arm.

“You alright, Julie?” she asked, as the Primary Trio raced out on their cycles.

The Pink Ranger sighed and nodded, before fully looking at the screens. “Yeah. I’m good. I’ll keep an eye out for any of Mesogog’s goons on the rooftops.”

Hayley set up a split screen monitor just for her, one where she could watch the fight between her friends and the evil Rangers and one so she could continuously flip through security footage of the rooftops to see if anyone showed up.

The Dino Rangers showed up, stopping the Ninjas in their tracks. There was some banter back and forth that Julie didn’t pay attention too, but then Lothor’s little goons ran forward and attacked while her teammates defended themselves.

“I wonder if it’s going to be a color matchup or a gender matchup,” Trent said aloud as he watched his own split screen, one side focused on different parts of the city and the other on the Ranger vs Ranger fight.

“Kira could hold her own if it was by color,” Julie noted. “But I heard their Blue Ranger was brutal – I’m kind of worried for Ethan.”

“I’m just still so confused,” Kat said. “How did they get their Powers back? Sensei Kanoi said that they were definitely destroyed.”

Dr. Oliver sighed angrily. “It wouldn’t surprise me if it was a trick by Lothor,” he said. “How do you know Sensei?”

Katherine shrugged. “Me and a few others, Kelsie and Joel from Lightspeed, Max and Danny from Wild Force, and sometimes Wes from Time Force, go around to all of the Ranger teams and check up on them, especially the ones fresh out of the fight. Danny and I stayed with the Ninja Rangers at their school for almost two full weeks talking with them and getting them into contact with people who could help them process everything and deal with the ramifications of their entire student body being held hostage for almost a year.”

“That’s really useful,” Hayley remarked. “Cam never mentioned that.”

“He was the Samurai Ranger, right?” Julie asked as the fight quickly moved to Ranger vs Ranger down the gender line, Kira and their Blue Ranger facing off as Ethan and their Yellow Ranger started to fight. “The Green one?”

“Yeah,” Dr. Oliver replied. “There was also a Navy and Crimson, which was weird because-“

“Navy!” Julie exclaimed. She turned to Trent excitedly as the others all turned to her. “ _That’s_ where I recognize Blake from! He was the Navy Ranger!”

“Blake Bradley is _here_?” Hayley asked. She turned to the monitors and opened up a new window and eagerly started typing. “That means the other Ninjas have to know, which means-“

“They probably followed their friends,” Trent said. “But are they good-”

“Or are they evil?” Dr. O finished,

Julie bit her lip and enlarged her screen that was focusing on the rooftops. If they were evil, they’d be with the Rangers fighting, but Blake seemed alright at the race track so they have to be watching or something, right? Or maybe they were completely avoiding everything altogether.

“There!” Julie said, spotting three shadows standing on an awning that looked over where the Rangers were righting. “Look, do you think that could be…?”

“Go get a closer look, Julie,” Dr. O said. “But be careful. We don’t know what they’re up too. Trent and I will cover the city if Mesogog attacks.”

“And I can help too,” Katherine said. She reached into her bag and pulled out her Zeonizers and strapped them on. Julie watched as she shivered as little as the Power started to course through her from the direct contact of morpher to skin. “Be safe.”

Julie nodded at them and moved to the middle of the room. It wasn’t often that she had to morph by herself.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha! Stego Power!”

“Are you going to bike or teleport?” Dr. O asked.

“Teleport,” she replied. “It’s the quickest way.”

He nodded and reached over Hayley and grabbed a small, little thing that looked like part of a magnet. “Take this with you. If they look like they’re about to Ninja Streak away, throw it onto one of them.”

“I’m tying it to your morpher now,” Hayley said, quickly, as she started typing. “It should let you know where their bio signatures are so you can follow them from a distance without knowing exactly where you are, like a radar map.”

Julie took the offered device with a nod. With one final look at the others, she closed her eyes and winked out of the lab.

* * *

Hoping that the sounds of the fight below covered the sound of her teleporting, Julie appeared behind a column on the roof of the building where the other three Ninja Rangers were watching. She could hear the groans and grunts of her team down below and had to use every personal coping tactic she knew to not go down and help them.

She _had_ to do this.

The three Ninjas (or two Ninjas and a Samurai, it was kind of confusing) were literally _just standing there_ and watching.

From what she remembered from Dr. O’s history video, the Ninja Rangers had lost their Ranger Powers, so maybe they were unable to morph and help? But that didn’t really make much sense, because the Primary colored Rangers were able to morph. Why them and not the others?

For once, Julie wished that she had super hearing as a power instead of teleportation as the tall Ninja Ranger, the Crimson one, leaned over to Blake and said something to him as the sounds of the fight below tapered off.

 _“They’re too strong,”_ Conner said, his voice coming over the Comms. _“We need to regroup!”_

 _“Julie, you come back too,”_ Dr. O ordered.

“No!” she replied, quietly. “Let me follow them! I can help, I promise!”

Instead of keeping the communication channel open, Julie instead tapped the side of her helmet and turned it off. She’d get a lot of flack for it later, but this was important.

“We need to go to the Abyss of Evil,” she overheard the person who could only be the Samurai Ranger say. He stepped back as if to jump and Julie quickly threw the little tracking magnet and watched as it adhered to his metal bracelet.

Her helmet pinged and a small radar map appeared on one corner of her visor, small enough to not block her line of sight.

She was ready to follow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at Julie! Going off on her own! We love to see it.


	24. Thunder Storm Part 2

As soon as the Ninja Rangers started to Ninja Streak away, Julie blinked and teleported off the roof, trying to stay as close to them as possible so she could overhear their conversations without actually being noticed by them _or_ the civilians who were starting to come out and try to clean up the damage _._

She ended up about ten feet back but had to quickly scurry after them as Cam, the Samurai Ranger, started to walk quickly with the others following.

“Are you nuts?” she heard Blake ask as the Navy Ranger (and she was still mad about not placing that before, with how many times she had watching Dr. Oliver’s video) caught up to his friend.

“I take back everything I ever said about you being smart,” the Crimson Ranger, who’s name Julie didn’t actually know, added. She remembered that he and Blake were adopted brothers, and that they were evil at one time, but that was it.

She could hear Cam sigh as he picked up his pace and she started to walk faster.

“Have a look at what they’ve done,” he said, gesturing to the destroyed alleyway that the Ninja Rangers had wrecked in their fight against the Dino Rangers. ‘We have to get to the Abyss. It’s our only chance.”

Julie quickly ducked behind a destroyed car as Blake turned around to see if anyone was following them. She closed her eyes and held her breath, leaning her forehead against the car itself and hoping that she was concealed.

This would be _so much easier_ if she had Dr. O’s invisibility, or even Trent’s camouflage. The little dots on the inside of her helmet on the radar started beeping as they got farther away so she sent a prayer up to Dino Jesus and teleported behind another car that was closer to the trio.

That was close.

“You were there, right?” the Crimson Ranger said. “You know what’s inside that thing.”

“Yeah,” Cam said, stopping and holding Crimson back with a hand on his chest. “Our Powers. And we have to get them back if we’re gonna have any chance of helping the Dino Rangers deal with Tori, Shane, and Dustin.”

Blake let out a frustrated laugh, that wasn’t really a laugh. “No way,” he said. “No. There’s no possible way I’m going in that thing again.”

She couldn’t hear what Crimson Ranger said to his brother, but eventually Blake let out a sigh and a nod and the three of them Ninja streaked off.

 _“Julie,”_ she heard over the comms. _“Any luck?”_

“They’re going to get their Powers out of the Abyss of Evil,” she said, quickly, back to Dr. O and whoever else was in the lab. “I’m going to follow them.”

 _“That’s all the way in Blue Bay Harbor!”_ Kat’s voice said, distantly, as if she were speaking into Dr. O’s communicator from farther away. _“Can your Powers take you that far?”_

 _“We’ve never tested that distance,”_ Hayley said.

“I have to try!” Julie said. “They might need help!”

 _“They’re Ninjas, Julie,”_ Ethan said. _“They can fight-“_

“But I’m the one currently connected to the grid!” she replied. “Now, they’re getting farther away, I need to-“

 _“Be careful, Princess,”_ Conner said.

“What was it Ethan said earlier, ‘Danger Shmanger?’ I’ll be fine.”

The Pink Ranger shut off the communications again and, focusing intently on the radar dots of the trio of Ninja Rangers, blinked out of her hiding spot in the alleyway.

When she landed and felt like she could open her eyes, Julie was surprised that she wasn’t somewhere deep in the woods in a mystical place which is really the only way she could have pictures something like the Abyss of Evil being located.

Instead, it was a construction zone on the side of a highway.

Still, she wondered how no one else had noticed the strange, purple smoke that was floating up from the inside of giant rip in the ground.

Julie got there just in time to see the three Ninjas slowly start to repel down into the tear in the Earth, directly into the purple smoke. She bit her lip, worriedly. Should she follow? She didn’t know anything about anything about the Abyss of Evil, after all.

She took a deep breath, grounding herself.

 _She_ may not know what was down there, but the Ninjas definitely did and they still went anyway to retrieve their Powers. At this point, anything could help. Julie didn’t want Kat to have to reactivate her Zeo Powers, since they had no idea how that would affect her since the Powers had only gotten stronger.

They needed the help and she needed to do all she could to make sure they had it. For her friends and her home.

The radar that she had been following was blipping, completely empty, as the Ninjas were in the Abyss, which meant there was no way that she could teleport inside, especially without knowing what it was like down there. So, she found another clip to attach to one of the ropes the Ninjas had used and clipped herself onto the middle one with her belt.

With one last prayer to Dino Jesus, Julie slowly started to lower herself into the Abyss of Evil.

This would be a _great_ college admissions essay, if she could ever tell it.

Once she got through the cloud of purple smoke that was seemingly only the first twenty or so feet down into the hole, Julie looked around in horror at the red tinted walls and the smoke that was coming up from an even bigger hole in the ground that she couldn’t exactly see the bottom of.

The Ninjas were fighting a bunch of their versions of Tyranno Drones and a couple of monsters-of-the-week. She quickly lowered herself to the clip where they had dropped their helmets and unclipped herself.

Cam was fighting the scariest looking guy that, if she remembered correctly was their version of Zeltrax that’s name also started with a ‘Z’ while Blake and Crimson were fighting hoards of the little monsters and one big monster apiece.

She took a deep breath, and _jumped_ over the ledge to another and threw herself into the fight.

The little creatures were wily, a lot more that the Tyranno Drones who were all bulk and muscle, but they didn’t have claws which was a definitely improvement as one reached out to punch her. Julie took the punch, but grabbed its arm and _twisted_ , flipping it head over heels and directly into another one of the creatures.

It was like when she and Kira sparred, the small size of the monsters comparable to the other girl's size. This would be _easy_.

Julie jumped and laid back, kicking one a couple times in the head before landing on her back and popping back up only to slam her fist into another one’s jaw. A couple more scuttled towards her in their weird way of walking, but she jumped and split kicked both of them away, knocking one over the edge and sending it further down into the Abyss itself.

Keeping an eye out for more of the little monsters, Julie tried to see where the Ninjas were and if they needed help. Cam was trying to reach for a spinning, glowing orb that was floating in the air just out of reach as Crimson and continued to fight their own little groups of monsters.

Then, their Zeltrax sent a pulse through the ground with his sword and started to shake the whole Abyss.

Julie held on tight to a stalagmite as the ground started to shake. She watched as Cam just barely managed to step off the ledge, falling backwards onto the solid platform. The Crimson Ranger did the same, staying away from the edge.

Blake? Blake lost his balance on the edge of the cliff and fell.

“No!” she shouted over the noise, standing up on shaky legs as the rocking of the ground continued. She teleported over to the ledge where Blake once was as his brother _jumped_ from his ledge and managed to grab onto him before hanging onto the ledge itself.

Julie quickly ran over and reached down, grabbing onto the Crimson Ranger’s hand and starting to pull upwards.

“Who are you?” he asked up at her.

“Is this really the time?” she asked, struggling. Her gloves had a little bit of traction and she thought some of the Velcro on the man’s jacket had snagged on the glove so it helped a little bit more.

“Hang on!” a voice said from behind her. An arm reached over her and grabbed onto the Crimson Ranger’s wrist as well, helping her pull.

“I’m trying!” Blake yelled up.

Julie couldn’t look down to see so she hoped Blake was secure. She didn’t think that she could teleport in midair to grab him and back and she didn’t necessarily want to _try_ in the first place because that genuinely seemed like the worst idea she could have possibly had today.

And she had followed a group of strangers into something called the _Abyss of Evil_.

“I’m losing my grip!” he shouted up at them.

The Pink Ranger let out a grunt as she slowly but surely started to move backwards with the help of Cam to pull up the two adults who were practically dead weights at this point.

“Now it’s your turn to feel what it’s like to live at the bottom of the Abyss! Goodbye Rangers!” the Zeltrax-like thing said.

“This isn’t even my genre,” Julie grunted. “Why couldn’t this be a transdimensional haunted island?”

“Hold on,” Cam said through gritted teeth.

“I can’t believe I’m gonna miss my race tomorrow!” Blake shouted up at them.

Julie groaned as the Crimson Ranger replied, “Did you seriously just say that?”

“Ugh, boys,” Julie added. She felt her glove’s grip start to give out. “You’re slipping!”

“I can’t hold on,” Cam added.

Julie tried to get a better grip, tried to adjust her hands without letting up any of the slack. She started to panic as the Crimson Ranger’s arm started to slowly but surely slip out of their grip-

And then another hand joined the fray, holding tightly.

The Pink Ranger looked up, not having even noticed anyone else join them in the Abyss to see a man that could only be Sensei Kanoi standing there with a grimace on his face.

Between the three of them, they managed to pull the Crimson Ranger and Blake up and back onto the ledge where it was safe. Julie leaned back, exhausted from the effort it took from holding two people who weighed significantly more than she did and from teleporting a couple of counties away.

“Thanks,” the Crimson Ranger said to her, also out of breath. “I owe you one.”

Julie waved at him, trying to catch her breath. “Rangers stick together, right?”

“Why are you here?” Cam asked. “Who are you?”

“Let’s wait until we get out,” their Sensei said. “Cameron, can you grab the Samurai amulet?”

The Green Samurai Ranger nodded as he went over and was easily able to grab the floating orb. Blake, who was surprisingly okay after being dangled over the Abyss of Evil like bait on a fish hook over a river, held out a hand and helped her up.

“I thought someone had been following us,” he said. “But I couldn’t get a glimpse.”

“I’ve been following you since the rooftop,” she admitted. “The sounds of the fighting covered up the teleporting.”

“Miss Stewart,” their Sensei said. “If you could please teleport out of the Abyss, we will join you momentarily.”

“How did you-“ she started to ask, but the man simply smiled at her. “Alright.”

With one last look at the Rangers, still in shock, Julie blinked and was back in the field next to the highway.

She quickly dropped her morph and stood with her arms crossed, waiting, as the four Ninjas quickly ascended out of the cave.

“Julie?” Blake asked, confused. “You’re the Pink Ranger?”

She nodded with a smile. “That’s me.”

“How do you know each other?” the Crimson Ranger asked.

“I met her through her friend,” Blake replied. “Kira. Wait, is she?”

Julie nodded again. “Yep. Kira is Yellow.”

“So, Conner and Ethan?”

“Red and Blue, respectively.”

The trio of younger ninjas stared at her in shock. Blake, because he hadn’t realized that he had met the new set of Power Rangers, and the other two were probably still in shock that she was there at all.

“You must save your questions for later,” their Sensei said. “Tori, Shane, and Dustin need to be stopped.”

The four Rangers, past and present, nodded at the man as Cam opened up the Samurai Amulet and handed two coins to the boys.

“Blake, Hunter,” so _that_ was his name, “I don’t know how much of a charge these have, so _be careful_.”

The two took the coins with a nod.

It was time to take the party back to Reefside.

Sensei Kanoi had, thankfully, been keeping an eye on his errant evil Rangers and knew that they were supposed to be meeting the other Dino Rangers at Harbor Bridge for a confrontation. Julie had hopped onto Hunter’s back as he Ninja Streaked to the area, unsure if she’d be able to teleport the entire way back.

She _really_ needed to stretch that muscle some more because, wow, was she exhausted.

They came up with a quick plan. The primary-colored Rangers wouldn’t accept their actual Power Coins from Cam if they thought he was against Lothor, so they would have to pretend to be evil to get their attention. Julie wondered if she, herself, should also pretend, but the Ninja Rangers said no.

Julie looked around, eagerly, as the arrived at the bridge but still stayed hidden. The fight between the Ninja Rangers and Dino Rangers looked like a close one, divided on gender lines once again. She couldn’t help but wince as Kira’s Ptera Scream echoed against the infrastructure of the bridge.

Ethan seemed to be holding his own against the Yellow Ninja Ranger, which was good, while Conner sped his way up to the upper bridge to fight their Red Ranger.

“Is that… Eric McKnight?” Cam asked, confused, as they waited for the perfect moment to interrupt to give them their Powers.

Julie shook her head. “No, that’s Conner. Eric is his twin.”

The Green Samurai Ranger looked confused, “That was _definitely_ a Ninja Streak though.”

“He has Super Speed,” Julie explained. “Like my Teleporting. It came with the shiny, magic rock.” She waved her communicator bracelet with her Dino Gem inside. “We don’t really know either.”

She winced as Conner was thrown from the upper walkway back down to the ground, but he managed to not land on his face as he super sped down which, granted, really did look like the Ninja Streak that the Ninja Rangers used.

The two groups of Rangers stood apart from each other. Cam and the others nodded at each other and went to move, jumping smoothly over the barrier. Julie blinked to the other side of the bridge and did the same from the other side, going to join her friends.

“Julie, what-“ Ethan started, but Julie quickly shushed him as she stood next to them.

“No time.”

“Another one?” the Ninja Red Ranger scoffed. “And she’s so _small_. This will be easy.”

The Pink Ranger felt herself bristle. Small? _Easy_? Conner put a hand on her shoulder to hold her back, which was a good thing as the others finally noticed the other Ninja Rangers.

“No, wait!” Cam yelled.

“Wait a minute, _Blake_?” Kira asked, confused. “That’s how I know you! You’re a Power Ranger.”

“Good, ‘cause we can use all the help we can get,” Ethan said, cracking his neck.

Blake scoffed with a smirk on his face and Julie tried not to wince at the bad acting of the Navy Ranger. They should have talked about this more. “We’re not here to help you guys out,” he said. “We stick with our own kind.”

Julie watched as Conner’s jaw dropped before he quickly got it together as Hunter started to talk.

“Lothor’s shown us the error of our ways,” the Crimson Ranger added.

“Whoever doesn’t follow us, we’ll destroy,” Cam added and Julie actually did wince at that. Thankfully, these guys all had day jobs because actors? They ain’t.

“What is going _on_?” Ethan asked, quietly and through clenched teeth. Julie shushed him.

“Quiet. You’ll see.”

“This is gonna be _great_ ,” their Yellow Ranger said, clapping his hands together roughly. Julie saw Ethan wince out of the corner of her eye.

But, this was where the plan stepped in.

“Wait,” Cam said, holding up his hand. “First, you have to take these. A little Power boost direct from the Abyss of Evil.”

“The Abyss of _Evil_?” Conner asked. “Oh, this can’t be good.”

Julie shushed him too. “Seriously, keep quiet. I promise things will be okay.”

“How do you-“

“Where do you think I’ve _been_ today?” she threw back. His jaw dropped as he made the connection that she, herself, had been in the Abyss of Evil with the other Ninja Rangers. “See? I promise.”

“But we already have our Powers,” the Blue Ninja Ranger said, stressing the words.

“Not these ones,” Hunter said.

“You better be right about this,” their Red Ranger said, reaching out to take his Air Ninja Power Coin.

The others followed suit as Cam replied, “Believe me, you won’t be sorry.”

Kira started to groan, as the Ninja Rangers flicked the evil coins out of their morphers and locked in the good ones.

In quick succession, three bright energy blasts of yellow, red, and blue burst out of the morphers with enough force to knock the three Ninja Rangers to the ground. Julie let out a breath of air she didn’t know that she had been holding.

It actually worked!

She watched as Cam, Blake, and Hunter went and picked their friends off the ground, all three of them looking extremely confused.

“Dude, what happened?” the Yellow Ranger asked. “My bell is seriously rung.”

“How did we get here?” the Blue Ranger asked, confused. “The last thing I remember-“

“Lothor,” Blake answered. “He’s back.”

“Yeah, we know,” the Red Ranger, who had called her _small_ , said. “Sensei told us.”

Hunter scoffed. “That wasn’t Sensei.”

“No, dude, I know Sensei when I see him,” Yellow replied.

“No,” Blake stressed. “It’s Lothor.”

“Okay,” Yellow started. “Unless it was Lothor _dressed_ as Sensei.”

At that point, Julie realized that she and the other Dino Rangers had slowly made their way over to the others to eavesdrop harder onto their conversations and Conner couldn’t help but interrupt, saying, “Okay, this is all highly amusing, but does someone want to tell me what’s going on?”

Julie couldn’t help it and burst out laughing.

The ten Rangers from different teams all made their way back to Dr. O’s lab where the Thunder Ninjas and Cam quickly caught the others up on what happened.

“They were about to fall inside,” Cam explained. “But Julie, here, got to them first. I went and tried to help her pull them up, but Dad got there just in time.”

Julie flashed a smile at her team who were staring at her in disbelief that she had actually gone into the Abyss of Evil with the Ninja Rangers. Dr. O had been shaking his head when she explained her part in it, but she had seen the small smile on his face.

“So, we faked being on Lothor’s side to get you to take the right Ninja Discs,” Hunter further explained.

“It’s a good thing you guys showed up when you did,” Conner said.

Shane, the Red Ninja Ranger, snorted. “Good thing for you guys.”

“Whatever dude,” Conner replied, shoving the man.

“Nah, I’m just kidding,” he said. “You guys fight like rock stars.”

“I, for one, will take that as a compliment,” Kira said.

Julie watched with a smile as Dustin, the Yellow Ninja Ranger, and Ethan fist bumped.

“We couldn’t have done it without Julie,” Cam said. “I don’t think I would have been able to hold the others up long enough for Dad to get there.”

“Aw, shucks,” the Pink Ranger said with a smile. “I’m glad I could help.”

Dr. O walked up then, standing behind Sensei Kanoi. “We’re glad you’re here,” he said. “But now it’s time to get down to business.”

“Tommy is right,” Sensei Kanoi said, standing up. “We have a serious problem on our hands.”

The group of eleven Rangers, Trent included, stared up at the bald man anxiously. Julie couldn’t help but agree. Mesogog was one thing, but _Lothor_ too?

“And it’s going to take all of us to defeat him,” Dr. O added.

The lab was crowded with everyone there, different people working on different ways to try and find Lothor or Mesogog. Julie had thought that lab was pretty big before, but that before two full teams of six Rangers, Hayley, Sensei Kanoi, Katherine _and_ Justin (who had just wandered in at some point and no one had questioned it) had stood inside of it.

“I was serious about owing you one,” Hunter said, coming up to Julie as she stood off to the side with Katherine and her brother. “You didn’t save just me, but my brother as well. He’s the only thing I have left.”

Julie smiled up at him. “It’s what I said in the Abyss, ‘Rangers stick together.’ But I’ll definitely keep it in mind.”

The Crimson Ranger nodded at her before wandering back over to his brother as Katherine elbowed her in the side.

“Oh? What’s this?” the ex-Pink Ranger said, a sly smile on her face. Justin was just shaking his head in response.

“ _Definitely_ not what you’re thinking,” Julie replied. “Seriously. Crimson is not in my color wheel.”

“No, you like basic _Red_ ,” Kira said quietly as she walked by. Julie reached out and elbowed the Yellow Dino Ranger as she danced away, laughing.

“Pink and Red do go together really well,” Kat added, glancing over to where Dr. O was talking with Hayley and Sensei Kanoi.

Julie elbowed her lightly. “But what about Pink and _Black_?”

The older woman blushed before the system started beeping and everyone rushed over to the computer monitors where Ethan and Cam had been watching for any signs of either of the two Big Bads.

“We’ve got company,” Hayley confirmed. The large group of Rangers joined together around the screens and Julie couldn’t hold in her gasp at just how _many_ monsters there were.

“It’s time,” Dr. O said. “Let’s show ‘em what teamwork is really all about.”

Thankfully, the monsters had picked the quarry to have this extremely large battle since it was the only place that could easily fit all of them _and_ all of the Rangers. They ran in pairs through the underbrush, the Ninjas avoiding using their Ninja Streak so the others could keep up.

Conner and Shane, Ethan and Dustin, Kira and Tori, Dr. O and Trent, Julie and Hunter, and Blake and Cam.

All twelve Rangers skidded to a stop, together, on a cliff directly across from the gathered monster force. Tyranno Drones, Kelzaks and the Triptoids were there, along with Elsa and Zurgane and the two monsters from before, which the Ninja Rangers had said were from the Abyss of Evil.

“It is time,” Zurgane declared as Else reached for her sword.

The Rangers looked down on them from the cliff as Dr. Oliver turned to them as one. “Let’s be careful,” he said. “But let’s get it done.”

Conner nodded before stepping forward. “Are you guys ready?” he shouted, as the current Red Ranger.

“Ready!” everyone replied, in unison.

Julie felt the Power surge through them, two Ranger teams united.

“Dino Thunder, Power Up!”

“White Ranger, Dino Power!”

“Ninja Storm, Ranger Form!”

“Thunder Storm, Ranger Form!”

“Samurai Storm, Ranger Form!”

“Tyranno!” “Tricera!” “Ptera!” “Stego!” “Brachio!” “Drago!” “Dino Thunder!”

“Power of Air!” “Water!” “Earth!” “Crimson Thunder!” “Navy Thunder!” “Samurai Power!” “Ninja Storm!”

The twelve Rangers, once they were fully morphed, jumped in unison from the edge of the cliff and landed solidly on their feet, now directly across from the monster army.

“Ranger Power!” all twelve shouted, together.

Julie had always been more in touch with the Morphing Grid than any of the other teenagers on her team and she felt it _scream_ when all of them stood, together. The ground started to smoke, all of their different colors, from the force of the Grid trying to hold them together. There was a reason why there had never been two Rangers of the same color on a team before. They only had three overlaps, with the Primary colors, but it felt like the Grid was about to rip itself apart. 

The two groups stood apart from each other, waiting with bated breath, as Elsa finally drew her sword and yelled, “Attack!” causing the monster army to rush forward.

“Kick it,” Conner said, starting them off.

Julie and the others ran for their Cycles, joined by the Ninja Ranger’s on their own bikes. While the Primary Colored Rangers rode off together, Julie circled back around to join Trent who also had Cam on the back of his ATV as Dr. O rode off towards Zurgane with the Thunder Ninjas following close behind.

“Let’s do this!” she said to them. She revved her engine and gunned it, Trent following along close behind as they sped to a group of what Cam had called ‘Wolfblades’ along with some Triptoids and Kelzaks.

“Right there!” Cam called out.

“Fire!” Trent and Julie yelled, together, as they blasted at the group of monsters. Julie grinned inside her helmet as she watched them scatter like ants. She and Trent nodded at each other before turning around and rushing at them again, breaking them off so each pocket was more manageable if one of the Rangers found themselves alone for the fight.

One of the Wolfblades actually managed to swipe at Cam as they drove by, knocking him off the back of the ATV. Julie quickly jumped off her Cycle and ran over to him.

“You okay?” Trent asked, as he, too, abandoned his ATV. “They’re asking for it!”

“Let’s give it to them,” Cam said. He shucked his armor plating off and with, “Super Samurai Mode!” his helmet turned around and he transformed.

“Super Dino Mode!” Julie and Trent yelled. They both let out a roar as they transformed as well. The plates encased Julie and she sunk down, lowering her center of gravity.

“Stego Axe!” she yelled, summoning her trusty weapon. She ran forward and swung, slicing into one of the three Wolfblades and a few of the foot soldiers as she passed before she came to a stop on the other side as Trent and Cam, who had flown through them, caught up.

Cam swung his sword and a sharp blade of green energy came out, hitting one Wolfblade directly. Trent elongated his quill sword and did the same thing. Julie, however, channeled all of her energy into her Stego Axe and, surprised, watched it elongate into a from that looked like a double bladed scythe and swung, taking out the third Wolfblade from a distance.

“Did you know it could do that?” Trent asked, yelling over the noise of the multiple fights.

Julie just shook her head in return. You learn something new every day.

“Nice moves, you guys,” Conner said, afterwards, once both groups of Rangers came together.

“Back at you, bro,” Shane replied, the two coming together to celebrate.

The Pink Ranger groaned as an Invisiportal opened up before falling into a fighting stance, ready to take on whatever popped out, but instead of a group of monsters it turned out to be two girls? One had fluorescent pink hair and the other had two giant puffballs for head and goggles that looked like bug eyes.

“Does that one look… weirdly like Cassidy to you too?” Kira asked her, leaning over. Julie just nodded with her jaw dropped as they ran over, super excited.

“Hey, Cam!” the pink one said, as Cam pushed his way to the front of the group of Rangers.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, confused.

“Is that anyway to greet family?” the pink one replied.

“Yeah,” the bug one that looked like Cassidy added. “Especially when we brought you a present.”

She pulled a large vial out of her pocket and, before anyone could stop her, opened it. Julie recoiled at the sight of the angry, red smoke that poured out.

“It’s our students!” Shane declared as the smoke cleared and a bunch of ninja students formed out of it, landing roughly on the ground before popping up with a ‘Hyah!’

The two girls grabbed onto the shoulders of their outfits and pulled them away, revealing their Ninja uniform and their natural hair underneath.

Julie joined the other in running over to the Ninja students, to check if they were alright.

* * *

“I’m afraid it’s dead,” Hayley said to the Ninja Rangers in regards to the Samurai Amulet once they all got back to the lab after the successful fight. “Lothor’s extraction of the Powers left just enough energy for one last battle.”

Shane sighed. “Yeah, well, I guess it’s a good thing we got you guys,” he said to Connor, staring him down.

The Dino Red Ranger nodded, reaching out and hitting the other man’s shoulder consolingly. “You’ve done your part,” he said. “It’s our turn to take over where you left off.”

“There’s just one thing I still don’t understand,” Dustin said, pushing past the group and over to Dr. O who pulled him away to answer his question.

Julie stood, with her team and with her new friends, elated at the fact that they had just won. Trent walked over and held out his hand. The Pink Ranger, confused, stared at it for a moment before taking it.

“Truce?” the White Ranger offered, tentatively.

Julie nodded, a smile on her face. “Truce.” She shook his hand, for the first time fully accepting the White Ranger as a part of the team.

The two Rangers let go of each other hands as the others started laughing and followed them over to the group as the two girls, who were apparently Cam’s cousins, were explaining how they saved Sensei Kanoi from Lothor.

“Hey! You have no idea how heavy he is!” Marah, the one who looked strangely like Cassidy, said.

“Seriously!” Kapri, the other one, added. “Sensei, you should really cut down on the cookies with your afternoon tea!”

Sensei Kanoi laughed as his nieces. “I will keep that in mind, now that I am returning to my normal life.”

“I’m all about getting back to normal,” Ethan said, walking forward. This spurred Blake on who walked down as well and slapped Ethan’s hand.

“Yeah, but not until we get down and dirty,” he said, a bright smile on his face.

The group let out a cheer – Blake had a race to win.

* * *

Their group was significantly larger this time as they made their way to the track. Everyone came, even Dr. O, Katherine, and Hayley. Julie let out a laugh as she clapped Blake on the shoulder as they walked by.

“Good luck!” she called, before Conner grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward to rejoin the rest of the large group as they gathered to watch the race together.

They cleared out a spot next to the finish line right as the race was about to start. Julie bouncing up and down as she cheered, shouting for Blake who was seriously kicking butt on the track as he raced around. It was nice to see another professional in a sport do what they do, for once.

No one cheered louder than the group of Rangers as Blake crossed the finish line _ages_ before everyone else. Once he got his trophy, Conner and Shane easily lifted him up on their shoulders as they all surrounded the Navy Ranger to celebrate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! Yay crossover episode! Now we're going to swing back a couple of episodes to get back on track. This will be the only crossover with another team in Pink Redux. The only other one that happens during the Dino Thunder storyline is Wormhole from SPD and neither of the team remember it, so you can pretend it's there but it's not. I have something special planned for the other SPD crossover episode, History. The next chapter is one that I've literally wanted to write for weeks, so see you Wednesday!


	25. Passion of Conner

“Julie, please, give me something.”

The Pink Ranger sighed and looked at her predecessor who was looking at her with such a hopeful gleam in her eyes, that she honestly didn’t know what to do. She had agreed to grab breakfast before school with her friend and was honestly starting to regret it at this point as her iced coffee started to melt and her scone got cold.

Why was Katherine so invested in her love life?

“It’s fine, Kat,” she said. “I know I’m… not exactly Conner’s type. And we’re friends! Friends are good!”

The older woman sighed, disappointed. “You, not Conner’s type? You have two legs and a beating heart, don’t you?”

Julie reached over and lightly slapped the now laughing woman on the arm. “Seriously! I promise it’s fine. We’re both too busy anyway.”

“But you _want_ it,” Katherine replied. “Yeah, you’re busy, but you shouldn’t let Ranger business stand in the way of _your_ happiness.”

She sighed. “Kat, Conner and I aren’t you and Dr. O,” she said. “You guys… were a perfect match. Still are. But us? Well, we’re a couple of kids with too much on our plates. This isn’t the 90’s anymore.”

Katherine just rolled her eyes and ripped off a small part of her muffin to throw at the younger girl, dropping the subject.

But Julie knew that it wouldn’t be forever.

Thankfully, Katherine dropped her off at the school soon after and she quickly ran to catch up with Ethan, Trent, and, of course, Conner, as they were walking in.

“How was breakfast?” Ethan asked. “Kat impart some sort of, I don’t know, secret Pink Ranger knowledge on you?”

“Or tell you about what’s up with her and Dr. Oliver?” Trent added.

Julie shook her head. “No, unfortunately it was all about _my_ love life. Which, seriously, who has time?”

“Yeah, you’re not allowed to try and get info about Dr. O anymore,” Conner said, as he opened the door before immediately stopping in his tracks. Ethan and Trent filed in beside him, but Julie had to push through the taller guys to even see what the issue was.

And, of course, Conner McKnight was stopped in his tracks by a pretty girl. Who was putting up flyers about something, which meant that all of them were probably going to get involved with it too.

“There she is,” he said, a dumb smile rising on his face. “The future Mrs. Conner McKnight.”

Ethan snorted. “Uh, you might want to give yourself just a little reality check, just once.”

Conner scoffed. “Dude, don’t be a hater. Just because I got the magic.”

“Magic?” Julie asked. “Right. Okay.”

“I’m with them on this one, Siegfried,” Trent said. “I know Krista from math class. She’s kinda keep, and you’re, well…”

“Shallower than a broken spoon?” Julie threw out.

“Not deep?” Ethan added.

“I didn’t want to say it,” Trent answered, shrugging.

“You guys are supposed to back me up, remember?” Conner said, loudly. Julie thought they actually might have hurt his feelings a little, which made her feel awful. “Where’s the love?” Krista, the girl that Conner was currently obsessed with, turned to walk away and continue to put up more flyers. “Now, observe.”

Julie couldn’t help but roll her eyes as Conner started to saunter forward. Both boys were focusing intently on Conner, ready to see him either fail or, surprisingly, succeed, but she just bit her lip and looked to the side.

This was almost like the Nikki Valentina, or whatever her name was, situation all over again. Except, this time the object of Conner’s affections was an actual _classmate_ of theirs and easily more obtainable. Julie glanced over to see the conversation between the two actually going _well_ and knew she had to do something.

Only Trent was watching as Julie pulled out her phone and started typing a message before quickly hitting send. She didn’t know if he saw what it said, but the person receiving it would definitely know.

_‘Hey, Hunter! It’s Julie. I’m calling in your debt.”_

* * *

When the last bell rang, Julie found herself following Ethan and Conner outside to where the protest was happening.

Conner had been lacking on the information about the actual thing, so Julie had had to find one of the other members of Krista’s environmentalist group in her History class and gotten the full scope of the story. She didn’t really care much, about the super old tree, but she did dislike Principal Randall so she chose to go instead of hang out with Kira and Trent.

“Save the tree! Save the tree!” the students chanted, waving handmade signs as the arborist company that Randall had hired started to set up their machine to tear it down. She and Ethan exchanged a skeptical look as Conner followed Krista’s every move as she bustled around the gathered students.

“Dude, there’s something so wrong about this,” Ethan said, gripping the straps of his backpack. “You really don’t care about this tree.”

“Did you even know this tree existed before this morning?” Julie asked, confused.

Conner shrugged, the ‘Save the Tree’ sign under his arm sticking out awkwardly. “She doesn’t need to know that,” he said. “I just have to make it _look_ like I care.”

“Because that’s the way too-“

But Julie was interrupted as Krista, who had apparently been walking behind them, overheard.

“Just as I thought,” the brunette said. “You can’t teach an old jock new tricks.”

Ethan and Julie exchanged panicked looks as Conner just gaped at the other girl. This wouldn’t go well.

“Look, do us a favor,” she continued. “And leave this to the people who _really_ care.”

Julie let out a puff of air as the girl stormed away, before turning to Conner who was staring after her in shock. Ethan had turned away, embarrassed for their friend.

“Ouch,” Conner finally said, turning away from them.

Principal Randall walked up then, with a megaphone, and Julie winced at her piercing voice got even louder. “Look, I gotta go. Have fun with the tree.”

“Where are you going?” Ethan asked, confused. “Your practices are in the mornings.”

Julie grinned and threw up a hand in farewell. “I don’t have practice, I have a date.”

Both boys turned to her, shocked. “A date?” they asked, in unison. Julie laughed.

“What? Like it’s hard? Catch you guys later!”

Before they could ask anymore questions, Julie quickly made her way away from the tree, nodding at a passing Dr. Oliver on the way.

She had a Thunder Ninja to see.

* * *

Julie had thought about asking Hunter to meet her at some place other than Cyberspace, but she knew if she wanted to get her point across to Conner in whatever convoluted way that she thought would work, she knew it _needed_ to be at the café. Thankfully, Hunter didn’t have a ninja class to teach that afternoon and, with his Ninja Streak, could be there in five minutes so she actually got there before him.

“Hey Jules,” Kira said, waving her over to where she and Trent were studying. “I thought you were going with Conner and Ethan to the tree thing?”

“I went for a bit,” she explained. “And then Conner did the thing where he stuck his foot in his mouth, so I left. But I’m also meeting someone.”

Both Kira and Trent’s eyebrows raised at that as the other two exchanged confused looks.

“Does this have anything to do with who you were texting this morning?” Trent asked.

Julie just grinned and turned as the little bell above the door rang.

And in walked Hunter Bradley.

She had seen him, once, out of his Ninja uniform when they went to go cheer Blake on at the finals of his race, but he was definitely a guy who didn’t really know how to dress himself. Also, despite being removed from being a Ranger for almost a full year, he was still dressed primarily in a deep red.

The Pink Ranger waved goodbye to her friends who were looking at her with dropped jaws as she walked over to Hunter and threaded her arm through his before leading him to a table farther away.

“You know this is ridiculous, right?” he asked, once she found them a spot. “Like, you could have asked for anything. I could have even taught you how to control lightning! But you want me to-“

“Make Conner jealous?” she finished. “You’re right.”

The older man sighed. “I know being a Ranger makes you think you’re living in a Saturday morning cartoon, but you aren’t actually. This kind of stuff doesn’t really work in real life.”

Julie just shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt to try? Look, I know it’s not anything big or important, and channeling Lightning would honestly be super cool, but this is a lot simpler. And only I can get hurt if this goes wrong.”

“Okay,” Hunter said, placing his hands on the table. “Then, if this is supposed to be a date, I guess I better get you a drink, huh?”

She reached into her bag and pulled out a ten dollar bill. “Here, on me. Since I made you come all the way here and all. I want a strawberry smoothie.”

The ex-Ranger took the offered money with a smile and wandered over to the bar, leaving her alone at the table.

And when Julie was alone, she got retrospective. She _knew_ this wasn’t a good idea. She was only going to hurt herself even more. She was _eighteen_! She had all the time in the world for a relationship.

But something about the way that Conner had looked at Krista that morning really set a fire in her heart and a pit in her stomach and she needed to do _something_.

“Oh, Julie. I didn’t know you’d be here. What happened to your date?”

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Julie turned, a smile plastered on her face, to see Conner and Krista standing near her. Krista wasn’t paying her any attention, but was instead looking at Conner as if he were a puzzle she was trying to solve.

“We met here,” she explained. “He’s not from Reefside, so this was the easiest place to find.”

Conner opened his mouth to say something else, but instead of words coming out, his jaw dropped as Julie felt a presence over her shoulder.

“Hey Conner,” Hunter said, a smile on his face and both of their drinks in his hand. “Long time no see.”

Julie smiled up at Hunter, glad to see him playing along even if he thought that this was ridiculous. She took her smoothie from him gratefully as he sat in the chair next to her, scooting it closer and throwing an arm around the back of it.

He was really laying it on thick.

“Hey Hunter,” Conner said, his voice a little higher. “I didn’t know that you two were-“

“It’s new,” Julie said with a shrug. “We felt a connection a couple of weeks ago and here we are.”

Conner nodded at that, but Krista started to drag him towards the counter to order and whenever the boy’s attention went solely back to the tree hugger girl, Julie let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“ _We felt a connection_ , seriously?” Hunter asked, a smirk on his face.

She laughed and shoved him lightly. “I wanted to bring up how deeply we bonded in the Abyss of Evil as I heroically kept you from falling to your death, but she was there and wouldn’t get it.”

“You’re prettier than her anyway,” Hunter said. “Conner doesn’t know what he’s missing.”

Instead of replying, Julie just started to drink her smoothie.

She knew the other Rangers had watched the confrontation as her phone started to vibrate as they sent text after text asking about it, and, specifically, asking about _Hunter_ , but she ignored it and instead pushed it to the back of her mind.

If she wanted to make this realistic, she needed to put the effort in.

So, she flirted. Julie was every bit a media darling, having given interviews about figure skating since she was fourteen and started competing on a national scale. She knew how to ham it up and make herself look more sparkly than she was.

Hunter, for his part, played along. He was _really_ taking this seriously which made her super happy.

She was going to get him a fruit basket or something. Ninjas liked healthy food like fruit, right? Maybe one of those Edible Arrangements or something.

“Where are the Power Rangers? I _have_ to find the Power Rangers.”

Julie stopped, mid-laughter as Devin, of all people, ran into Cyberspace in a panic. Hunter stopped as well, looking curiously at the other boy. She saw all the others notice their classmate too, paying close attention to him.

Devin currently held Cassidy tightly by the shoulders, shaking her as his own voice shook. Something had seriously bugged him.

“Hello?” Cassidy asked. “Haven’t you been paying attention-”

“Yeah, but this time, it’s serious,” he said, interrupting. Julie’s jaw almost dropped at that. Devin? Interrupt _Cassidy_? “I was _attacked_ by that freak Zeltrax.” Didn’t Dr. O _kill_ Zeltrax? “He’s looking for the Rangers, but, wait, it gets worse.”

How could it get worse?

“How could it get worse?” Cassidy asked, crossing her arms and walking away. Devin stumbled after her.

“Well, he stole the tree.”

“What was that?” Hunter asked.

Julie shrugged and shook her head. “I honestly wish I knew,” she said. She turned to him with a smile. “Thank you, for coming up today but it looks I have some business to take care of. I’ll call you?”

Hunter sighed, but nodded all the same. They both stood up and bid their goodbyes before Hunter left the café and Julie wandered over to her teammates who were currently watching as Conner and Krista were having a fight.

“So, Zeltrax?” she asked, leaning on the arm of the chair next to Ethan. The Blue Ranger sighed before standing up, the others following.

Krista stormed out, leaving Conner looking bereft and staring after her.

“Dude,” Ethan said to him as he stood up to try and go stop the girl. “You know where we have to go.”

The Red Ranger sighed, and, with one last glance to where Krista walked out, replied, “Yeah. I know.”

* * *

“So, Zeltrax is back,” Trent stated, once they got back to the lab and found Dr. O and Hayley. “How is that even possible?”

“Yeah, didn’t he die in a fiery explosion when you destroyed his spaceship?” Julie asked.

“And what does he want with a _tree_?” Kira asked.

The red head sighed. “I think I can answer all of those questions.” She turned around and pushed a button on the keyboard and the monitors all switched to a bubbling pile of gray goo that made Julie want to gag. “The tree must be growing over a Life Force Spring.”

“You’re talking about a Fountain of Youth?” Ethan asked, incredulously.

“Those are real?” Conner added, confused. Julie still couldn’t look away from the gross puddle of goo.

“Apparently, this one is,” Dr. O replied.

“So _that’s_ what kept the tree alive for so long,” Kira said.

Conner let out a groan while Hayley continued. “Not only that. The sap, because it’s been nourished for years by the spring’s waters, must have amazing powers of its own.”

“Like enough to bring Zeltrax back to life,” Julie finished.

“Which must be why he’s after it,” Trent said.

Julie watched as Dr. Oliver rubbed at the bridge of his nose, looking more stressed than he had in a while. Granted, she still wasn’t used to seeing him outside of his suit or, you know, visible. “I’d be willing to bet he’s not the only one,” he said.

She groaned, this time. “Mesogog.”

The Black Ranger nodded. “Of course. He has to have his hands in it somehow.”

“His creepy, clawed hands,” Kira added.

“But what about the tree?” Conner asked. “How did he just… take it? It was huge.”

“He probably turned it into a monster that we’re going to have to fight, right?” Ethan asked.

Hayley, actually, had no idea and turned back to the computer and started typing and trying to see if she could find some surveillance footage from the school that would show what exactly happened.

Instead of finding the past footage, she found a current video, and, in that video, Krista was walking up to the hole where the tree was.

“Look, it’s Krista,” Kira said, but before she could even finish her sentence, Conner was already walking away. She went to go after him, but Dr. O shook his head and got up instead to follow him.

“So, Hunter,” Ethan muttered once they realized that both Dr. O and Conner were talking too quietly to eavesdrop on. “What’s that about?”

Julie shrugged. “You know, just… trying something out. Dating, right? It’s a thing. And we have a bunch of stuff in common.”

“Are you sure it’s not because of…” Kira started, wary.

“Nope,” the Pink Ranger replied, hoping that they also couldn’t hear her heart almost beating out of her chest at the absolute and utter lie that she was telling. “Not at all. Hunter and I just… clicked, ya know?”

That was when the beeping of the emergency alarms started.

Dr. O and Conner quickly ran back over, Conner looking better than when he had walked away, as they both leaned over to see the screens.

“Is it Zeltrax?” Dr. O asked, worried.

“No,” Hayley replied. “But it looks like some of his old friends are throwing him a welcome back party.”

“We can handle the Triptoids,” Conner said, firm.

The others nodded and turned to go as Dr. O asked Trent to stay in case Zeltrax dug his way out of whatever cave he had holed up in. The two traded places, Trent going to sit in the chair that the Black Ranger had vacated at the computers and Dr. O went with them to the middle of the lab to morph.

* * *

“Did we ever address that the Triptoids were kind of Ethan’s fault,” Julie couldn’t help but say as they arrived to face down the incredibly organized and incredibly _weird_ army of Triptoids that had made their way to the middle of the city, led by Elsa and the evil White Ranger clone.

They literally stood in a bunch of little blocks of seven, when some would squat, the others were stand up straight and then they would squat, and the others would stand up. Just looking at them for too long made Julie seasick.

“You’re so predictable,” Elsa said, over the weird chirping noise the monsters were making. “I knew I could count on you to show up.” She took a deep breath before yelling, “Attack!” And the army rushed them.

Julie and the others quickly rushed into the fight, splitting off from each other to try and break up the horde of foot soldiers as Dr. O hung back to try and surprise Elsa and the clone.

She went to punch one of the Triptoids as it danced out of the way. Julie tried to bob with it, but it instead it swiped its weapon and hit her, knocking her off balance as two more came in and tried to hit her as well. She tried to dodge as best she could, immediately overwhelmed, and was grabbed by two that were holding her so tightly she couldn’t wiggle out.

“What’s gotten into these guys?” Conner asked, as a small group of them had literally trapped him. “They’re on fire!”

“Then it’s time to put the fire out!” she heard Dr. O yell over the noise. She turned, as best she could while ducking and dodging, to see Dr. O grab at the monster, holding it tightly and sending a burst of energy through it and _knocking it out_!

“What are you doing?” Kira asked as another Triptoid swiped at her with its sword.

“Use your Dino Gem power,” Dr. O said, as he grabbed at another one. “It creates an energy that will deactivate the Triptoids.”

With that, Julie reached back and grabbed onto the two that were holding her and _pushing_ , feeling the Power from her Gem start to slowly trickle out of her and into the Triptoids before it suddenly started _rushing_. The two Triptoids quickly let go of her, but before they could do anything they fell over, officially deactivated.

Woah.

“It works!” Conner shouted. Julie grabbed for another one, quickly, doing the same thing and watching as the energy overwhelmed whatever the Triptoids were wired with.

“This is crazy,” Ethan added, grabbing two at once.

“Shocking, isn’t it?” Kira asked as she literally held onto one’s sword before pulling it away.

“These guys are really _sparking_ up the wrong tree, huh?” Julie gleefully said, proud of the pun, as she wrestled with one who was squirming too much to grab a hold of. Finally, it weaved when it should have bobbed and Julie managed to grab a hold of its shoulder and send the energy current through it.

“Then maximize your Dino Power!” Dr. O yelled.

“Full Power!” Julie yelled with the others, feeling more energy than usual, but less than in Super Dino Mode coarse through her as the Grid started to slowly open to release the energy. She opened her eyes and could see herself and the others start to glow as the Triptoids they touched started to scream and glow as well, raising their hands to the sky as the energy _poured_ off of them and into the air before they all disappeared into nothing.

Julie ran towards the others and grabbed Kira’s hands, jumping up and down with the other girl and celebrating.

“You’ve been deserted!” Dr. O said to the two ringleaders, still standing up on the high ledge they hadn’t moved from since the fight began.

“You might’ve beaten the Triptoids, but my Master will have eternal life as soon as I get that tree back!” Elsa shouted, staring resolutely down at them

“Too late!”

Julie thought her neck snapped as she turned so fast at the new, familiar, voice, trying to find it.

“You’re all too late!”

An Invisiportal opened up in the sky above _both_ groups and lightning shot down, hitting around them.

“What now?” Conner asked, as a being appeared in the middle of the groups.

It looked like it could have been Zeltrax, but where their old enemy was covered in Chrome, this monster was black and a dark red, with thorns coming out of different parts of its body. Its eyes were glowing a sickly green, along with a spot in the middle of its chest.

It was Zeltrax on steroids and, if Julie was afraid of the Renaissance Faire Reject before? Now it was serious.

“Zeltrax,” she heard Elsa said, the scary woman’s jaw dropping.

“Yes,” Zeltrax said, turning to face her. “I am back and better than ever. And this time, I am not alone.”

Julie turned away from where Zeltrax was staring his old coworkers down as Conner shouted, pointing up at the sky, “Krista’s tree!” To see, indeed, a large scary tree that had the color palette of Old Zeltrax, but all of the evil of the New One standing what looked like a mile or more above the city.

That wasn’t good.

“It’s over, Rangers,” Zeltrax said, calmly, as Julie could only stare in horror.

“Whoa, who’s in charge here?” Ethan asked in disbelief, turning from Zeltrax, to the monster, to Elsa and the clone over and over.

“I am,” Zeltrax answered, slowly turning towards them. “And no one will stop me.”

At that point, Elsa opened an Invisiportal and disappeared inside, cutting her losses, but the White Ranger clone stayed back, its hand on its sword before it _jumped_ up and merged into the cockpit of his clone DragoZord to quickly form the clone version of the Dino Stegosaur MegaZord.

Once again, Julie was thankful that _her_ StegoZord was safe and sound.

“I’ll take care of Zeltrax,” Dr. O declared, looking at the four of them. “You guys know what to do.”

As he got ready to fight the enemy he had already beaten before, Julie and the others ran towards their Zords and forming the Thundersaurus MegaZord.

“Triassic Power!” Conner yelled, summoning his shield as soon as they got inside. Julie held out a hand with the others and pushed more of her energy into the Shield, giving it its power as Conner started to transform.

While he was doing _that_ , the Mezodon Rover was turning into the Mezodon MegaZord.

It was the monster and the Dino Stegozord MegaZord copy against the Thundersaurus and Mezodon MegaZords.

Julie felt that she had seen this movie before, and she definitely didn’t like the ending.

The two groups started towards each other, Julie locking in tight to the Thundersaurus with the absence of Conner as he went to the Mezodon MegaZord. The Red Ranger, in his sword, went straight for the Dino Stegosaur MegaZord while they had to deal with the evil tree.

Thundersaurus MegaZord swung the Tyranno arm, trying to land a hit on the tree, but it easily blocked it and knocked it back before punching them in the chest. Julie grabbed on even tighter to her console as the whole MegaZord shook as it fell down, right as the Mezodon MegaZord did as well.

 _“That’s one tough tree,”_ Julie heard Conner say over the comms.

“We’ll just have to chop it down,” she replied, helping to push the MegaZord back up on its feet.

 _“Guys, combine all the Zords to form the Triceramax MegaZord!”_ Dr. O said, the words ringing through the cockpit.

Wait, _all_ of them?

She turned to see all of the auxiliary Zords running to them and her jaw dropped as Conner yelled, “Triceramax MegaZord!”

Her, Ethan, and Kira were staring, shocked, as all of the auxiliary Zords and the Mezodon MegaZord blended perfectly together, looking like the toughest thing she had ever seen as it towered above even _them_.

“Now that’s a Zord,” Kira said, awed. Julie could only nod with her jaw dropped.

The White Ranger clone barely gave them time to admire the new MegaZord as it and the tree monster rushed at them, but Conner wasn’t phased. He knocked the clone MegaZord back easily before striking at the tree and knocking it down to the ground. The Dino Stegosaur MegaZord jumped in front of the downed tree as Conner yelled, “Turbo Fire!”

Julie didn’t know _which_ parts of which Zord did it, but two things started to rapidly spin to build up energy before firing two laser blasts, one at each monster and hitting them directly.

The White Ranger clone disappeared into thin air as the monster started wobbling and sparking, before it exploded and collapsed. Julie watched as bits of the tree flew everywhere as Conner yelled over the comms, _“Oh yeah!”_

“I think I see Trent down there with Dr. O,” Julie said.

“We should go see if we can help,” Kira added, with a nod.

The four Rangers jumped out of their MegaZords as they dissembled themselves and went back to holding, arriving just in time to jump in front of the downed Dr. Oliver and Trent.

“You played right into my hands,” Zeltrax said, picking up one of the branches from the destroyed tree. “Eternal life is mine!”

Before he disappeared into a sickly red Invisiportal, he sent a blast of energy at them and knocking them all of their feet.

“Man, I hate that guy,” Julie said, holding onto her side that was now hurting.

“Conner, you go follow Zeltrax,” Dr. O said. “I think he’s going to the hole where the tree used to be.”

“Right,” the Red Ranger agreed, before super speeding off.

* * *

“Shouldn’t we go with him?” Julie asked, as she angrily paced back and forth once they got back to the lab. They hadn’t demorphed, just in case, but Dr. O still didn’t explain _why_ they didn’t all go with Conner.

Julie unclipped her helmet, holding it tightly in her arms, as her mentor replied, “Because this is something that Conner needs to do on his own.”

“But what if he needs help?” Ethan asked.

“If, and I mean _if_ , it looks bad, we’ll go,” Dr. Oliver said. “But have some faith in him.”

All of the others joined Hayley as they watched the screen where Hayley had somehow managed to find surveillance footage of his fight with Zeltrax, but Julie still continued to pace.

“Wait, what’s he doing?” Trent asked, confused. Julie turned to see him leaning closer towards the computer and she quickly ran over herself, only to see Conner yelling into the sky and glowing.

She watched as he transformed, first into Super Dino Mode and then into the Triassic Ranger without them needed to be there to give their strength.

But that wasn’t all.

 _“Battilizer, Power Up!”_ she heard Conner said over the comms and she felt her jaw dropped as it just _kept going_.

If she thought the Triassic Ranger armor was incredible, it had nothing on _this_. He looked like a Zord, almost. All big and bulky with stretchy arms and legs.

“Go, _now,”_ Dr. O called. She quickly placed her helmet back on her head and teleported, feeling the others follow after her.

Zeltax yelled something they couldn’t hear and dropped Krista from the side of the cliffside. Julie heard Kira let out a gasp as she ran up, but Conner used his stretchy arms to reach out and grab the falling girl from almost a hundred feet away and drag her over to him.

She ran off to hide as soon as she landed and Conner turned back to Zeltrax, ready to fight.

Conner fired a laser blast at Zeltrax, barely missing him as he jumped up and landed on top of the cliff, but Conner didn’t wait around long as he started running as Julie went over with the others to help protect Krista.

“I will not be defeated,” Zeltrax screamed, before pulling out his double bladed staff that glowed with the same sickly green light as his eyes and spinning it around before firing an energy blast at the cliffside, causing rocks to start falling.

Instead of being phased, Conner used the falling rocks as stepping stones to get up to the top of the cliff quickly to where he immediately jumped into a fight.

“Is he going to be okay?” Krista asked, looking up at them concerned.

“The Red Ranger will be fine,” Dr. O said, speaking first in a deeper voice before anyone else had the chance of potentially giving away their identities.

Julie could only bite her lip and watch, anxiously, as the two up on the cliffside were evenly matched. Conner’s extra training with Dr. O and the energy boost he got from his Battilizer were definitely helping him stay toe to toe with Zeltrax.

He yelled something that she couldn’t hear, before he punched the ground and opened a small fissure, sending electric shocks down it towards Zeltrax and knocking him off balance.

Zeltrax tries to fight back with his glowing, double ended staff, but Conner just runs on the side of the mountain cliff to avoid it, before grabbing Zeltrax and _flinging_ him into the air. Conner jumped and kicked him, sending him over the cliffside.

“Woo!” Julie cheered, fist pumping in the air as Conner followed him down.

“Alright!” Ethan added, grabbing her arm excitedly.

Zeltrax had no control over his falling, while Conner looked smooth as he extended his stretchy leg and kicked Zeltrax straight in the chest, causing him to fall quicker and crash painfully into the ground, sending up debris from the landing.

Surprisingly, the robotic man was able to get back up, but Conner wouldn’t let him stay up for long. Julie watched with baited breath as he yelled, “Dragon Yo-Yo!” and summoned a giant, spinning yo-yo that glowed with the same powerful energy he had when he transformed into his Battilizer. He grabbed the string of the yo-yo and _chucked_ it at Zeltrax, hitting him multiple times.

“Oh he’s not done,” Trent said, as Conner’s armor started to grow actual _cannons_ from his back.

“Battle Blast!” the Red Ranger yelled, as he _lifted up into the sky_. Not only were they cannons, but it was a _jet pack_ as well.

“Why does Red always get the cool stuff,” Ethan asked.

“Something something connection something something Morphing Grid,” Julie explained. “I tuned out when it was being explained.

Conner fired a brilliant beam from the double cannons that enveloped all of Zeltrax with its size. Julie cheered as she watched as Zeltrax, sparking, fell over exploded in a brilliant light show that would have worked as a great finale at a Fourth of July show.

Julie joined the others in cheering before she ran over to Conner, punching him on the shoulder.

“Dude, that rocked!” Ethan said.

“Good job,” Dr. O added.

They heard movement from behind them and all six Rangers turned to see Zeltrax, now looking as he once did and not the evil, scary red version, using the rocks to claw himself to his feet.

“This is only a small setback,” he said. “You can be sure about that!” Before he disappeared into one of the red Invisiportals.

“Can’t he just die?” Julie asked.

“We’ll be ready,” Conner said, standing tall.

* * *

Julie found herself walking with the others the next day to the spot where the old tree used to be, and where they were going to plant a new one. The City of Reefside had, thankfully, overrode Principal Randall’s request for a parking lot and the others wanted to go see the new planting.

“The only downfall in all this is that Zeltrax wiped out the Eternity Spring,” Trent said as they ambled down the hill towards the already large group that was gathering. “That could’ve done a lot of good for a lot of people.”

“Yeah, but like anything good, too much can be really bad,” Dr. O added, shaking his head.

Kira shook her head. “I wonder what’s gonna happen to Zeltrax,” she said. “Please tell me we’re finally through with his ugly mug.”

“Unfortunately, I doubt it,” Dr. O said. “I’m sure Mesogog will be looking for him just as hard as we are.”

“Wouldn’t it be nice if they just destroyed each other?” Julie asked, a grin on her face. “Then, we wouldn’t have to do anything! It’d be great.”

The five of them quieted down about Zeltrax and Mesogog as they approached the crowded circle of people that were gathered around the whole where the old tree was, to where the new one would be.

“Hey look, there’s Conner,” Ethan said, pointing across the circle to where the Red Ranger was standing next to Krista and talking. Julie felt a bubble build up in her stomach as she caught a glimpse of his expression. She couldn’t overhear anything he was saying, but she had seen that face before, when he was giving her her birthday present, so she knew he was saying something sweet and sincere.

Curse this cute boy, getting her all sorts of worked up.

Then she watched, stunned, as Conner picked up the little baby tree and stepped forward to plant it in the dirt.

To new beginnings.

“Hey, where’s Hunter?” Conner asked her as the group of Rangers, now plus Krista, were leaving to head to Cyberspace for a drink. “I thought you mentioned that he would be here.”

Julie looked from him to Krista who was talking with Kira and then back to him before giving a rueful grin. “Nah, it didn’t work out. Sometimes, having a lot in common doesn’t really work out the way it’s meant to, ya know?”

Conner patted her on the shoulder. “If you want me to beat him up-“

“I know you got me, Ball Boy,” she said, bumping into him with a shove. She could feel her own heart breaking, but she knew it was the best.

Still, she needed to text Hunter to tell him to not show up at Cyberspace with a giant bouquet of flowers that she had bought like they had planned.

Maybe she’d tell him to give them to Cam. Yeah, that’d work.


	26. Strange Relations

“Julie, you’re staring. Focus.”

Julie shook herself and quickly looked down at her notes, feeling a blush rise on her cheeks. She knew she needed to stop, to get her head in the game. Finals were coming up and qualifiers would start soon.

And she had already given up on Conner. Conner who liked Krista. Conner who was going to _prom_ with Krista.

“Thanks,” she muttered to Kira, who was looking at her concerned. “I just… need to get out of my own head.”

The Yellow Ranger smiled at her, but Julie couldn’t help but think that it looked hopeless. “Things will work out, yeah? Have you figured out who you’re going to prom with yet?”

Julie scoffed. “Prom? Yeah, I’m probably not going.”

“Julie! You have to go!” Kira said. “My band is playing! We’ll all be there, it should be fun.”

“I just… I don’t think,” she stumbled over her words, trying not to say anything out loud where just anyone could hear. “I don’t want to go alone. Besides, someone should be watching for Mesogog. Dr. O signed up to be a chaperone, ya know?”

“So, it’ll just be you alone in the lab while the rest of us are out having fun,” Kira said, crossing her arms. “Yeah, no. What about Hunter? Surely he’d go with you.”

“Unfortunately, there’s an age limit on dates,” the Pink Ranger replied. “I already asked. He’s too old. So are all of the other Ninjas, except Dustin, but he has a thing that night that he can’t get out of.”

“We’ll find you someone,” Kira said, hopeful. “Or I’ll eat my shoe.”

“What seasoning goes with leather?” Julie asked, looking at the other girl’s feet. “Garlic powder?”

Confused noises from Ethan made her, and Kira, turn towards their friend who had been sitting at a table by himself gaming. It was something they had to start making the Blue Ranger do, sitting by himself that is, otherwise Conner would turn his laptop off, and he’d get mad and they’d fight.

Again.

“Uh, guys, you gotta see this,” he said, not taking his eyes off the screen.

Julie and Kira exchanged a look before getting up and walking over. Surprisingly, instead of whatever game that Ethan had been playing all day, there was a small video chat window open with a White Ranger in it.

And, going by her friend’s expression, it definitely wasn’t Trent.

 _“I have a challenge for you and your Ranger friends,”_ the evil White Ranger clone said. _“Meet me at the seaside for our final battle.”_

“And what if we have something better to do?” Conner said, from Ethan’s other side, his voice filled with venom.

The clone started pointing at them, angrily. _“Then the consequences will be on your head,”_ he said, before closing out of the video.

“The dude’s never heard of email?” Ethan asked.

“ _Meet me at the seaside_ ,” Julie mocked. “What is this _The Notebook_?”

Conner sighed. “Come on, guys, let’s go.”

“What about Trent?” Kira asked. “He went to see his dad.”

“We can take this guy ourselves,” Conner insisted.

“Uh, can we?” Julie asked. “We haven’t exactly been able to before. Like, at all.”

Ethan groaned. “Well, I vote we at least bring in Dr. O for a little backup.”

And, with that, they left the café and headed towards the lab.

If a fight is what the White Ranger clone was looking for, it was going to get it.

* * *

As soon as they got to the lab, they quickly informed Dr. Oliver of the message from the clone. The Black Ranger was gung-ho about the meeting in a way that Julie definitely didn’t expect. When asked about it, he said that it was a good time to get one enemy off of their plate for good.

Hopefully the ‘final battle’ would only be final for the clone.

The five Rangers morphed and jumped on their Raptor Cycles (and Dr. O, his ATV) before heading out to the most deserted strip of Reefside beach, on the opposite end of the county from where Ocean Alert was filmed months ago that had become somewhat of a tourist trap.

“Come out, come out wherever you are!” Ethan called as he climbed off his Cycle. Julie put her kickstand down and looked around, anxiously, trying to spot the clone or his Zord, one.

“Are you sure this is where we’re supposed to meet him?” Dr. O asked.

Then, a blur, and Julie felt quick bursts of pain before she was thrown in the air, landing roughly on the wet-packed sand.

“Miss me?” the clone asked, crossing his arms.

“You know, this might be the wrong place,” Julie suggested as she pushed herself up. “Maybe its further along down the beach?”

“Do you really have to ask?” Kira asked. The four of them stood, together.

“Where is the White Ranger?” the clone asked, angrily, as he took stock of the five of them.

Conner scoffed. “Five against one! I don’t see why you’d want to make it six.”

Instead of replying with its words, the White Ranger responded with pain as it pulled out its sword and shot five bolts of lightning at them. Unfortunately, as the clone was known to do, all hit them directly and threw them through the air.

Again.

“I’m glad you could make it,” the clone said, brushing off Conner’s comments and, apparently, his own question about their missing teammate. “Are you ready for the next phase?”

“Name your game,” Conner said, as he stood up. Julie groaned as she and the others followed.

“My challenge, my rules,” the clone said, holding his hand out. “Let’s take it to the Zords!”

Before she could blink, he jumped up and merged into the cockpit of the flying DragoZord, quickly forming it into the cloned version of the Dino StegoZord.

Julie still didn’t like looking at it, even if it was only a copy.

“This guy doesn’t waste any time,” Conner said, summoning his Shield of Triumph.

“Right,” Julie, Kira, and Ethan replied in unison, before shouting “Triassic Power!” and funneling their own energy into the Shield.

Conner transformed into the Triassic Ranger and immediately called for the Mesodon Rover. He, Ethan, Kira, and Julie all jumped into the cockpit once it got close, Julie readjusting to the inside of the Zord after having never really been in it before.

“Mesodon MegaZord!” all four said, linking into the systems of the Zord.

 _“Auxiliary Zords, activate!”_ she heard Dr. O say over the comms.

The four other Zords quickly showed up, taking no time at all to merge with the Mesodon MegaZord. Julie grinned and popped her knuckles as she felt the familiar presence of all the Zords that she had gotten close to when Stella had been kidnapped by Trent.

“Who’s tough now?” Conner asked, brandishing the double ended, quad headed axe that the Triceramax MegaZord now wielded.

The clone didn’t bother with an answer as the Dino StegoZord ran forward, only to be stopped by a hit to the chest from the Triceramax MegaZord that didn’t just stop it, but threw it back from the force of the blow.

Where has this Zord been the entire time? Julie could think of four, no _five_ , different battles that it would have been helpful in.

Julie watched as the Dino StegoZord slowly pushed itself up, its arms buckling a few times, before it was fully standing and the clone yelled, “Lasers at full power!”

But, instead of being phased by the blows, they glanced right off as the Tricermax MegaZord slowly walked forward.

“Tricera weapons, counter strike!” the four Rangers ordered.

The one arm that was the CephaloZord started to build up power while the arm that was the AnkyloZord started to spin the axe, building up power there as well, before both shot a bright energy beam straight at the Dino StegoZord.

It didn’t knock it off its feet, but it was close.

 _“Now I’m mad!”_ Julie heard the clone say from where its Zord had patched in to their comms. The MegaZord jumped into the air, spinning, before falling – using the cloned StegoZord’s spikes as a saw blade that did almost nothing.

“Tricera Lance!”

The AnkyloZord arm started spinning the weapon quicker, building up a bigger energy beam than before, before it sent the swirling blast of weaponized light at the Dino StegoZord that raised its arms to protect itself.

But, it didn’t work and Julie couldn’t help but cheer as it _broke apart_ in a big explosion with the two Zords flying off in different directions.

Julie and the others quickly exited the MegaZord, leaving it in one piece, just in case, before starting to comb the beach to look for the White Ranger clone.

“There he is!” Ethan shouted. Julie nodded and ran closer, joining the others as they stopped only a few feet from the clone as it writhed in pain on the ground.

“What’s wrong with him?” Kira asked, confused.

“You are worthy opponents, Rangers,” it garbled out, its voice getting thick.

“Maybe we can help you,” Conner offered. Julie held in her snort as best she could, but it apparently wasn’t enough as Dr. O cut her a look.

The clone shook its head. “No, the battle must go on until the question is answered.”

“What question?” the Yellow Ranger asked as the clone pushed itself to its feet.

“Who will survive as the White Ranger.”

Julie looked down to see her morpher flash before the Stego head that belonged to Stella switched positions, looking backwards instead of forwards and she felt the clone Zord take up presence in her mind.

“Woah,” she said, stunned. “I have the cloned StegoZord.” It roared in acknowledgement as the DragoZord took off, flying away from them entirely.

“I’ve lost control of them!” she heard the clone say, angry, as he continued to stumble away before he dissolved into his little pixie dust transportation.

* * *

“I was afraid this would happen,” Hayley said as she finished analyzing the data that they had brought with them back to the lab after their fight with the White Ranger clone. “The White Dino Gem can’t sustain being cloned. The energies have to be contained by one White Ranger.”

“If anyone’s taking votes, mine’s on Trent,” Kira added.

“So, the Morphing Grid actually _does_ reject Rangers of multiple colors,” Julie said, looking over the red head’s shoulder at the screen. “I remember when we morphed with the Ninja Rangers that it wasn’t happy.”

“You can tell that?” Dr. O, Conner, and Ethan all asked, surprisingly in unison.

Julie, confused, looked at them. “What, you can’t?”

“The Pink Rangers have always been more tapped into the Grid,” Hayley answered. “I learned that from talking with Katherine. “Pink Rangers are the-“

“The fixers,” Dr. O finished. “That makes sense.”

“Wait, fixers?” Julie asked. “What does that mean?”

“We’ll talk about it later,” Dr. Oliver said. “First, we need to contact Trent.”

She opened her mouth to say more, to ask more questions, but the emergency beeping went off and Hayley’s computer screen immediately went to a view of the city where a giant, armored monster was standing tall and working on destroying Reefside.

Dr. O sighed. “Like that wasn’t going to happen. Hayley, you call Trent. Come on, guys.”

The five Rangers moved to the middle of the lab where Dr. O called, “Ready?”

“Ready!”

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

* * *

“There he is!” Conner yelled as they ran through downtown like they couldn’t see the Not-So-Jolly Green giant. “This way, guys!”

“Are you looking for me?” the monster said, stopping to face them. His voice rattled the windows on the buildings next to them it was so deep.

“The giant green guy – hard to miss,” Dr. O said.

“No doubt,” Conner replied.

“He looks… frightening,” Julie added, staring up in shock.

The video feed that Hayley had found back at the lab of the monster did not do it justice. It was a pretty, royal green color with intricate golden designs. It was wearing an almost Roman-like helmet and carried a large, green and purple bow.

That looked like it would hurt.

“Call it!” Conner said. Dr. O nodded.

“BrachioZord!”

Julie quickled jumped into Stella, feeling the subtle connection of the cloned StegoZord as well, as they formed the Thundersaurus MegaZord straight out the gate.

“StegoZord!” Julie called into her morpher. “We need you!”

The cloned Zord’s back opened up, just like the original one’s did, and laid flat and the Thundersaurus MegaZord balanced on top of it as the green monster ran towards them.

 _“Brachio Staff! Blade Strike!”_ she heard Dr. O say over the comms as he stabbed his staff into the ground, summoning a tidal wave.

Between Stella the StegoZord being the legs of the MegaZord and the cloned StegoZord (she really needed to come up with a name for it to make it easier), she was in complete control as the cloned StegoZord took off running, jumping into the water. She lowered her center of gravity to make sure the Thundersaurus MegaZord’s legs could handle the differing impact.

They went over the waves before turning around, heading straight for the monster and the giant burst of green energy he sent towards them which knocked them completely off course. Julie screamed as they fell, hitting the ground harshly.

“Victory is mine,” the green monster gloated.

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, buddy,” Julie said, pushing the MegaZord to its feet.

“Now it gets interesting,” it said, pulling back its sword before firing another burst of green energy at them. Julie closed her eyes, bracing herself as they were struck. They didn’t fall over this time, but it was close.

“What _is_ this guy?” Ethan asked.

Nobody answered as the monster then yelled, “Time to grow the rest of my army!” Before he was enveloped in a sparkly glow and turned into an honestly ugly looking house plant with a bunch of little, red pods on it that looked like berries.

“What the-“

_“I don’t know what just happened, but I bet it wasn’t good.”_

“Just what we need,” Julie said, shaking her head.

Two of the berry-like pods dropped off of the main plant with a glow, before floating in the air. One went to the MegaZord’s left and the other to the right. When the glow cleared, two giant monsters stood in their places.

The Deadwood tree, surprisingly, and a giant red monster that looked like a weird mix between a bird and a crab with far too many eyes.

“Take root, my army of evil!” the plant that was once the monster said, gloating. “Plant your seeds of destruction!” The ground started shaking as his roots actually did start to expand underneath the city.

This? Definitely wasn’t good.

Before they could do anything, both monsters fired sets of lasers at them before they could even bother to defend themselves.

 _  
“Hang on, guys!”_ Dr. O called.

“Is there something you can do?” Kira asked as the MegaZord shook.

But then, familiar screeching.

“Please let that be Trent and not the clone,” Julie mumbled as a mantra underneath her breath, being one of the first to recognize the call of the DragoZord.

The new red monster that appeared turned towards the flying Zord, as if to fight it, but in true DragoZord fashion it sped up to a blur and swiped at it as it flew by, causing sparks to erupt off of the monster. It turned back around, only to fly at it again, but this time shooting lasers.

At that point, Julie had to turn her attention to the other fight that was going on as the Deadwood started towards them. The Thundersaurus MegaZord held out its arms, grabbing it to stop it, but it easily shook them off, backing off before swinging a right hook at them that only hit the Tyranno head on the front of their MegaZord, but it was enough to knock them to the ground and eject them from the MegaZord.

Julie screamed as she flailed, falling to the ground from 30-stories up. The monster had broken apart the MegaZord!

“Julie, it’s up to us,” Dr. O said, once she landed harshly and slowly pushed herself up to her feet. She nodded, feeling the cloned StegoZord leave her mind space as Dr. O’s morpher turned into the reverse Stego morpher.

Stella had shaken off whatever had caused them to fall apart in just enough time for Julie to jump back into the cockpit, locking herself in as Dr. O jumped into the cloned StegoZord.

“DragoZord!” Dr. O called. Surprisingly, the White Rangers Zord listened, flying over and picking both of them up in quick succession before throwing them into the air, locking into them itself as they fell down, before the three Zords landed together as the fully-functioning Dino Double StegoZord.

“This is so cool!” she said, locking into the new MegaZord. Dr. O nodded at her.

“Let’s go!”

They turned towards the monsters, but a green laser burst from the red monster stopped them in their tracks.

“We might need some reinforcements,” Dr. O said. Julie nodded.

“ParaZord! AnkyloZord!” she called, summoning her two favorite auxiliary Zords. He nodded at her choices as the arms of the Dino Double StegoZord fell off and were replaced by the cutter arm of the ParaZord and the drill and the shield arm of the AnkyloZord.

“It’s go time!” they yelled, in unison.

The Dino Double StegoZord ran forwards, swinging at the red monster with the ParaZord arm and hitting it before nimbly, or as nimbly as a giant robot could, stepping away out of its range and directly into Deadwood where they hit him with the other arm.

“Double Strike!” Dr. O yelled.

Julie could feel the energy that was concentrating on the end of the Ankylo arm as they swung at the tree, hitting it directly. That same energy concentrated in the blades of the ParaZord as it went and clamped down on the monster, cutting it and half and causing it to explode.

“Yes!” Julie celebrated, fist pumping the air. She reached over and high-fived Dr. O before they turned to face the new, red monster as it screamed angrily before rushing at them.

“This guy’s tough,” Julie said, grunting under the strain of trying to push back. “We need more help!”

“Right,” Dr. Oliver said. “DimetroZord! CephaloZord! Time for a new Mega combo!”

The two Zords ran out of the forest as the ParaZord and AnkyloZord arms fell off, linking up instead.

They didn’t have time to fight, or even get used to the new additions to the Dino Double StegoZord before a brilliant flash of green lightning was shot at them, hitting them directly and easily knocking them over, ejecting them from the MegaZord – Julie for the second time today.

When they landed, Julie’s morph broke, and she ended up with a wad of leaves in her mouth.

“Did anyone get the number on that truck?” she asked as the others ran over to her and Dr. O to help them up.

As Ethan pulled her to her feet, Conner asked, “How are we going to defeat this thing?”

“Guys, look.” Julie jerked her head around to where Ethan had gestured to see one of the White Rangers slowly walking towards them. She felt fear, for a moment, the slowly encroaching form bringing her back to the nightmares she had months ago before the Trent and the clone split.

“But which one is it?” Kira asked. “Trent?”

The five unmorphed Rangers stared the White Ranger down as it walked ever closer, Julie preparing herself for another fight that she definitely wasn’t ready for. When it came to a stop in front of them, “Power down.”

The Pink Ranger let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding as the White Ranger unmorphed to reveal Trent. He had done it!

“Who were you guys expecting?” he said with a smirk.

Julie let out a relieved laugh before joining the others in running over to him. He and Conner did a bro-fist thing before he smiled at all of them. Julie and Trent locked eyes and they nodded at each other as Dr. O joined the circle.

“Good timing Trent,” he said. He looked to all of them in turn, before adding. “You guys ready to do this?”

Did he even have to ask?

“Ready!”

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

“White Ranger, Dino Power! Ha!”

“Dino Power!”

Julie rolled her shoulders, relaxing into the suit. She was honestly surprised the Grid let them morph again so soon, but she wasn’t going to look this gift horse in the mouth.

“All right,” Conner said, his voice strong. “Game on!”

The six Rangers jumped into their Zords, Julie and Dr. O in the StegoZords hanging back with Trent ready to reform the Dino Double StegoZord as the others formed the Thundersaurus MegaZord to fight the red monster.

 _“Dino Drill, Attack!”_ she heard them all say as the red monster started to rush them. This time though, they were ready as the Tyranno arm started to spin immediately before they _launched_ themselves across the clearing and stabbed the monster directly, the spinning of the Tyranno arm causing the pieces of the monster to go flying as it was destroyed.

The giant green monster’s plant turned brown before it faded away before it shouted, “I’ll take you down!” At Trent, who was approaching from the sky. He fired an arrow at the White Ranger who dodged it narrowly, due to the maneuverability of the DragoZord as the Thundersaurus MegaZord came out of nowhere and grabbed onto the monster before throwing it to the side.

As he landed on the ground, the MegaZord turned to Trent and Julie heard Conner say over the comms, _“Trent, listen. The only way we’re gonna be able to defeat this guy is if we use all the Dino Zords, including the DragoZord!”_

 _“Sounds like a plan,”_ Trent said.

 _“The Mesodon’s online,”_ Conner replied.

“We have all the auxiliaries!” Julie added, nodding at Dr. O. “Time some Dino Double StegoZord action!”

 _“All over it_ ,” Trent said.

 _“Combining now!”_ Conner said.

All of the Zords came together, standing taller than anything they had been in before, especially since they were standing on the back of the already large BrachioZord. Julie grinned as she looked around the cockpit to see not just Conner, Kira, and Ethan, but Trent and Dr. O as well.

“Thunder Zords, full power!”

“Hey,” Kira said. “I didn’t think we could fit so many people in here.”

Dr. O laughed. “Yeah, it’s pretty cozy.”

“Now let’s give him everything we’ve got,” Trent said as Ethan cracked his knuckles.

Conner nodded. “Right.”

“Prepare to be destroyed!” the green monster yelled as it had finally managed to stand up and start running towards them.

“Hold onto your helmets, folks,” Conner said. “We’re going in!”

The BrachioZord roared and lowered its head, providing a perfect ramp for the clone StegoZord surfboard to ride down.

“Give it your best shot,” the monster called, beating its armored chest.

The MegaZord rode down the back of the BrachioZord, treating the StegoZord as a skateboard before the BrachioZord lifted its neck and head, giving them the perfect ramp to fly off of. Using the double axes from the Mezodon MegaZord, they swiped at the monster once, twice, three times before _throwing the spinning axes_.

All of their hits hit the monster directly. It didn’t have time to even try to fight back as the MegaZord gripped the disc on the of their head and threw it, spinning at the monster.

It hit directly and Julie watched with glee as it flailed before it fell to the ground, exploding in a fiery blaze.

“That was intense,” Trent said, letting out a breath.

“I’m glad it worked,” Conner added, leaning on his control center in relief.

“Wait, you _didn’t know_?” Julie turned to him, asking.

“Good call, Conner,” Ethan said as he punched the Red Ranger in the shoulder.

Okay fine, it was a good call. But still!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay folks, we're moving into the end game! The next four chapters are the finale arc! The end is in sight! Who will Julie go to prom with? Will they defeat Mesogog? Why is Katherine still in Reefside?? See you Friday!


	27. House of Cards

Frustrated, Julie ran a hand through her hair as she stared down at one of her three notebooks full of class notes, trying to make sense of a problem set for her Calculus class. The soft sounds of Kira humming and mouthing words under her breath as she was working on a song kept her from completely spiraling, even though Ethan and Devin were doing a good job of driving her insane.

“Ooh, enchantment spell,” the Blue Ranger said. “Now your trolls are under my command.”

“Counter spell, bro, sorry,” Devin replied, not sorry at all. “Now the release thing can be set loose on your castle.”

“Magic arrow card,” Ethan shot back. “Now my archers can hit five of your warriors with one shot.”

“Oh, not if my warriors are wearing _enchanted armor_ , thank you very much,” Devin said, the last bit being a very lame Elvis impersonation.

“This is so completely lame,” Cassidy said, from a neighboring bench.

Julie nodded as Kira added, “For once, I actually agree with you, Cassidy.”

“You guys just don’t understand ‘cause you’ve never experienced Dragon War played to its fullest potential,” Ethan said.

Julie rolled her eyes. Ethan making friends with Cassidy and, by extension, Devin after losing to him in a video game competition was weird in the first place, but this? This was going too far.

She wondered what Conner would say if he was here instead of off with Krista.

“Yeah, I mean, the intelligence and concentration that it takes to play this game is more than what most people can comprehend,” Devin said, kind of condescendingly.

Kira and Julie exchanged a look as Cassidy replied, “Really? That must be why my 6-year-old brother is so into it.”

“Besides,” Kira added. “You guys know Randall will freak if she catches you. It’s against school rules to play cards.”

“Also, that expansion of Dragon War? Totally lame,” Julie said. All four of the others turned to her and she just shrugged. “My 20-year-old brother likes it, so sue me.”

“Dude, can we get back to the game?” Devin asked. “I believe I was about to charge your castle.”

Julie snickered into her hand at the double entendre from that and Kira lightly hit her with her notebook as she, too, tried not to laugh. She looked over and saw Cassidy’s blonde head shake as the other girl giggled too.

“No way. It can’t be,” Ethan said, full of awe. “Ruby Dragon card.”

“No,” Devin replied, also awed. “No way, that’s impossible.”

“Oooh, what’s a Ruby Dragon card?” Kira asked, sarcastically.

Julie opened her mouth to reply, but Ethan interrupted her. “The rarest and most powerful card of them all. Nothing can beat it!”

“No way, man, I quit,” Devin replied, shaking his head. “Game over, you win.”

“See?” Ethan said. Julie knew him well enough at this point that the boy was about to go off on a tangent about Dragon War, but, to all of their surprise, he was interrupted.

Principal Randall clucked at her teeth, staring down at the boys with a gleeful smile on her face. “Hmm, you know, sometimes my job is just too easy,” she said.

The Pink Ranger watched as Ethan’s face went from horrified to smug, knowing that he learned that look from Conner, as he turned to the awful woman.

“Principal Randall,” he said, smiling brightly. “You are looking especially lovely today.”

“Mr. James,” she started. “If your friend Mr. McKnight can’t pull that off, then what makes you think you can?”

Ethan coughed. “All right, well, perhaps I can appeal to your sense of compassion?”

Randall scoffed. “If I had one, maybe, but I don’t. So, give me the cards now.”

“But he just got the Ruby Dragon card!” Devin said, trying to defend Ethan.

Principal Randall laughed and Julie almost fell to the ground to hide under the bench at the sound.

“Oh! Oh, well, you keep them then,” she said.

“Really?” Ethan asked, all three of them now laughing. “All right.”

But Randall’s laugh cut off real quick and her voice got serious. “No, hand them over.”

The two boys reluctantly placed their piles of cards in the woman’s outstretched hand as she told them to get to class and Julie shook her head.

“Man, I hate her,” she said. Kira made a small noise of agreement as she put her pen behind her ears and picked up her bag.

“I think everyone does,” she said. “But we really do need to get to class. Dr. O is supposed to have a pop quiz today.”

* * *

“Okay,” Dr. O said, once they had all failed his epic pop quiz. “And we got Stegosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Brontosaurus. What are some of the herbivores from that era?”

Instead of answering, Julie was staring blankly at her notebook for the class, wondering how the quiz had gone that _wrong_. It was like she had barely even known how to write her name!

 _Did_ she write her name?

“Ethan,” Dr. O continued. “You should know this.”

“Hey, calm down,” Conner whispered to her, leaning over. “I’m sure you passed. Besides, it’s only a pop quiz.”

“I _can’t_ fail,” she muttered back as Ethan and Dr. O went back and forth about, honest to Dino Jesus, his Red Dragon card that Principal Randall had taken that morning. “I have finals for my extra classes soon and I’m _losing_ it.”

“Seriously,” Conner said, lightly shoving her with his elbow. “You’re like, the smartest person I know. You’re _literally_ the entire reason I passed the SAT and got into Stanford. Relax, Princess.”

The Pink Ranger smiled up at her friend in thanks before she zoned back into the class discussion to pay attention.

“Dragon War?” Dr. O asked, confused. “Isn’t that a kids’ game?”

Oh. And they were still on this. Great.

“Come on,” Ethan complained. “It’s a game of strategy for all ages.” Julie grinned down at her blank page of science notes, trying to not laugh out loud at her friend.

Dr. O sighed. “Well, you know I hate to agree with Randall on this, but you know you can’t play cards at school.”

“But Dr. O! She took the Ruby Dragon card!”

Julie and the other Rangers exchanged looks, rolling their eyes. She looked over to see where Cassidy was sitting to see that she was about to slap Devin upside the head with her textbook if he kept talking and she couldn’t blame the other girl.

“Dr. Oliver, it was brutal, man,” Devin insisted.

She watched as her teacher and teammate took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, exhausted. She bet he never thought he’d be doing stuff like _this_ while he was a science teacher.

“Alright. I’ll talk to her after school,” he finally said, placing his glasses back on his face. “Maybe I can get ‘em back. But for now, can you guys please pay attention?” A beat, before he turned back around. “Julie. A herbivore from that era.”

“Othnielosaurus,” she said, looking up from her notes. “Or Dryosaurus.”

“Very good,” Dr. Oliver replied, writing those answers on the blackboard in his surprisingly neat penmanship. “Also, Camptosaurus. Thanks Julie.”

Julie nodded at her teacher, writing down the last one in her notebook before pulling her _other_ notebook out from underneath with all of her Calculus work in it.

 _Limits_ , seriously.

* * *

“So, you have your Calculus final on Wednesday, your Spanish final on Thursday, and your Music _and_ AP Chem final on Friday?” Trent asked, his jaw dropped, as they walked through the halls once the final bell rang for the day. “I didn’t even know you were _in_ a Music class!”

Julie nodded, rubbing at the back of her neck. “Yeah. It’s… a lot. But we set the dates before the school year even started so there’s absolutely no way that I can back out of it now. Just catch me propping up my notes about verb tenses or differential equations in the Zord as we fight whatever the Monster of the Week is this week.”

As the group of four walked outside the building, they noticed a small crowd had gathered out in front of the quad and were currently blocking up the stairwell so nobody could leave. Julie couldn’t see what was going on through all the people, even though she was standing on a taller step, but she _could_ hear what sounded like a pretty vicious fight.

“Okay,” Kira said, standing on her tiptoes and using Trent to see over the heads of the crowd. “Do you think Dr. O’s going just going a little over the top trying to get Ethan’s card back?”

“Wait, what’s going on,” Julie asked. “I can’t see!”

“Maybe he knows something we don’t,” Trent answered Kira. “Dr. O and Principal Randall are… fighting?”

“ _No_ way,” Julie replied, smiling. “I want to see! Get her Dr. O!” she yelled, loudly over the noises of the fight and the gathered crowd.

She _really_ didn’t like that woman.

“There’s got to be a reason he’s fighting her,” Trent added.

“What is Dr. O doing?” Conner stressed. “He’s so going to get fired! He _just_ got back.”

“It’s _Elsa_ ,” Ethan finally said, skidding up to them.

“Who?” Conner asked, confused.

“Randall?” Kira and Julie asked, Kira looked concerned and Julie looked _elated_.

She sighed, happily. “I knew I didn’t like her for a reason. And you all thought I was crazy.”

At that point, the fight came to a standstill as Principal Randall jumped in the air and transformed into Elsa before landing.

“See?” Ethan said as the crowd started to scream and run away from the fight instead of staying and watching.

“You fight well for a science teacher,” she overheard Randall, sorry _Elsa_ , saying as she stood across from Dr. O.

“You’re not bad for a Principal,” their teammate replied.

“ _Former_ Principal,” Elsa corrected. “Tell the school board I resign.” Before throwing her fist up in the air and disappearing into an Invisiportal.

Ethan groaned and ran forward, as if to stop her. “Wait! Don’t go!”

“You _have_ to be kidding me,” Julie complained, turning towards the Blue Ranger.

“Are you serious?” Conner asked.

“She has the Ruby Dragon card!” Ethan said.

The crowd eventually fully dispersed once Elsa disappeared. The teenagers went to go over to Dr. O, but he shook his head and tapped his wrist where his communicator was, motioning that he would catch up with them later.

“I can’t believe we didn’t work it out,” Conner lamented, tossing his mini soccer ball from one hand to the other. “They look exactly the same, except one has glasses.”

“Hey,” Ethan said. “Clark Kent and Superman looked the same, but nobody ever puts that together.”

“Because that’s a _comic book_ , Ethan,” Julie said. “This is _real life_.”

“Good point,” Conner added.

Ethan sighed. “I just can’t believe she got the Ruby Dragon card. I’ve been looking for that card since I was a kid.”

Julie just shook her head as Trent stepped in. “Look, maybe I can do something about it.”

All four of the other stopped and turned to the White Ranger in unison, confused.

“Like what?” Ethan asked.

“I don’t know,” Trent said with a shrug. “But maybe I can think of something.” He smiled brightly and started to back away, ready to go in the opposite direction. “Just leave it to me.”

“Was that weird to anyone else?” Julie asked, staring at the friend in concern as he walked away. "No? Just me?" He never looked completely over his shoulder, but he did look from side to side a lot like he expected someone or something to jump out.

“What’s his problem?” Ethan couldn’t help but ask, turning to Kira who, by now, was the expert on all things Trent.

She scoffed. “Well, don’t ask me. I can’t figure him out any easier than you guys can.”

At that, Dr. Oliver ran up to them, looking no less harried than he had after his fight with Elsa in the middle of the school yard. She assumed that he had quickly informed the required people that the person they hired to be the Principal was actually an evil henchman of the monster man that had been terrorizing their city for the past nine months.

“We’re still meeting later for training at the Edgemuir Woods,” he asked.

“We’ll be there,” Conner answered as the rest of them nodded.

“Dr. O, who’s the new Principal gonna be?” Kira asked.

Dr. O sighed. “That’s a good question. I’m going over to the school board right now to let ‘em know what happened.”

“They might want to screen the next one a little better,” Conner said.

“Yeah, maybe actually _read_ their resume,” Julie snorted.

“I’ll let them know that,” Dr. O replied with a grin. “See ya.”

The four teenagers waved at their mentor as he hopped in his jeep and drove off.

* * *

Julie spent most of the time before training curled in the cramped backseat of Conner’s car with one of her notebooks in her lap as they stopped at the small, local drive-in to grab food before they inevitably exhausted themselves during Ranger training.

“Jules, eat,” Kira said, shoving a container of fries at her. “Your notes will be there for after training, I promise.”

The Pink Ranger looked up, gratefully, taking the thing of half-eaten fries. Ethan was in the front seat trying to explain to Conner about the wonders of Dragon War between bites of his chili cheese dog and the Red Ranger was literally just nodding along, making agreeing noises, as he played on his phone with one hand and ate his giant burger with the other.

“Thanks,” she replied. “I’m just… nervous. I can’t afford to stay in school once the year is over. Coach is letting me off practices to study, its so important.”

“I never understood how you can be older than us, well, except Trent and Conner, but be so far behind,” Kira asked, biting into her chicken tender.

Julie shrugged. “Homeschooling and training for the Olympics are weird individually, but together its almost a complete disaster. There’s a reason there aren’t a lot of Olympians still in high school.”

She heard Conner sigh from the front seat, interrupting Ethan as he continued to talk about the Ruby Dragon, _again_. “Guys, it’s almost time for training. We ready?”

Kira nodded while Julie set her notebook aside and started shoving the French fries into her mouth.

She was going to need the calories.

* * *

“Where’s Trent? I thought he’d be with you,” Dr. O asked, first thing, once they walked up to their usual clearing where Julie had spent an incredible amount of time with her face shoved in the dirt.

“I don’t know, Dr. Oliver,” Conner said with a shrug. “I mean, he’s been acting kind of weird lately. Like there’s something he’s not telling us.”

Ethan sighed. “Well, dude, you have to admit, Trent isn’t exactly the most open about what’s going on with him.”

“It seems like that runs in the family,” Julie added.

“And what’s with him going after the Ruby Dragon card?” Kira asked, confused.

“He’ll be here,” Dr. O insisted, putting his faith in Trent. “He probably just got hung up at the cyber café.”

Julie bit her lip, knowing full well that the White Ranger hadn’t been on the schedule for the day which is why they arranged training to be toinight.

She watched as Dr. O’s face went from his normal expression, to Ranger-mode instantly and quickly turned around to see a familiar-looking monster walking towards them. The five Rangers lined up, dropping into fighting stances.

“Speaking of the Ruby Dragon card,” Ethan said, recognizing it first. “Elsa didn’t waste any time.”

“And if Trent went after the card…” Kira said, trailing off.

Julie gulped. “Not good.”

“We’ll find Trent later,” Dr. O said. “Right now, we have more pressing things to deal with.”

“Right,” Conner said, sighing. “Ready?”

Julie pulled her morpher in front of her chest. “Ready!”

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

They didn’t waste any time, coming out of their morph already in their Super Dino Mode knowing they would need it. If Ethan had drilled anything into their head regarding this stupid card, it was that it was strong and they needed all the help they could get.

Julie rolled her shoulders as the Stego plates encased it, knowing she was completely covered in armor, as Dr. O jumped forward first and kicking the monster in the chest.

Then, Kira and Ethan got a running start before jumping up and over, using Dr. O’s shoulders as a launchpad, and flying towards the monster, striking it twice.

At that point, Conner and Julie nodded at each other before barreling forward on either side of Dr. O. Julie rammed straight into the monster, knocking it unsteady as Conner activated his Super Speed to grab it by the wing and literally carry it through the underbrush before tossing it to the ground.

“Did that seem a little… too easy?” Julie asked, not relaxing her fighting stance.

Which was a good thing as the monster stood up and started firing laser blasts at them. Julie managed to dodge a couple, but one hit the ground close enough to her and the force of the impact sent her flying backwards before the others quickly joined her in a pile on the ground.

“The Ruby Dragon always wins,” the monster gloated. Julie looked up from her spot on the ground as a small barrage of arrows hit it, not phasing it at all, as he turned around to see Trent, morphed, riding on his ATV.

“We’ll see about that,” the White Ranger said as he skidded to a stop. Julie pushed herself to her feet as he pulled out his sword. “I’ll finish this freak myself, that is, if he’s up to the challenge.”

“Trent, that’s crazy!” Conner yelled, stepping forward.

“Conner’s right,” Dr. O added, “He’s too strong to take on by yourself.”

Trent looked down and Julie didn’t like his body language _one bit_ as he said, “I know how to play his game.”

“Seriously?” Julie hissed through gritted teeth. “Are we still on this card game schtick?”

“Speaking of games,” the monster replied. “Why don’t you tell your friends the truth?”

Wait, _what_ -

“I don’t know what you mean,” Trent replied, brandishing his sword, “Now let’s do this.”

Julie could only watch as the White Ranger ran towards the Ruby Dragon, swiping at him with his sword as the dragon did the same with his claws. Her jaw dropped as they jumped into the air and both immediately became blurs – the only time she knew that damage had been traded was by the sparks that went flying until Trent was knocked out of the air and landed roughly on the ground.

She joined the others in running up to check on him as Conner asked if he was okay. At his pained “Yeah,” Conner stood up straighter and pointed his blaster at the monster.

“I’ve got him,” he said, locked and loaded.

“Wait! Let me take him,” Trent pleaded, still on the ground.

“What’s the matter with you?” Conner asked, confused. “And what is he talking about?”

Before Trent could answer, three energy pillars of light floated down from the sky behind them and striking the ground, but the force knocked them all off of their feet.

Then, as if it couldn’t get any worse, an Invisiportal opened and Elsa and a hoard of Tyranno Drones appeared.

She and the others barely had time to climb to their feet before the ex-Principal was shouting, “Attack!”

Elsa and the Drones ran forward as Julie summoned her saber and immediately jumped into the fight. She swung her sword at one, the blow hitting it and knocking it backwards as she raised her foot and kicked it in the center of its chest and causing it to fall into another one that was rushing by. Julie turned quickly and used the saber to block a swipe from a different Drone, before she pushed back and slashed at it and jumped backwards to give herself more room to work with.

“Kira, Ethan, Julie!” Conner yelled over the din. Julie shoved one of the Tyranno Drones out of her way as she saw him summon his Triassic Shield. “You ready?” he asked.

“Ready,” the three replied.

Julie felt her Power tingle before she held out her open hand and sent it straight into the Shield as Conner yelled, “Triassic Power!” and transformed.

“Battilizer!” he yelled. “Engage!”

Julie left him to it as she ran towards Dr. O who was currently fighting off the Tyranno Drones by himself to give them time as Trent was just… standing there watching.

“Need a hand?” Julie asked her teacher, who turned to her and nodded.

“Around the world?”

She laughed, “You got it!”

Dr. O reached out and grabbed her forearms, and, with a grunt, lifted her and balanced her until she was parallel to the ground. A bunch of Tyranno Drones had gathered around them now, trying to avoid the ongoing fight that Conner was having with Elsa. Dr. Oliver started to spin in a circle and Julie used it, and the Drones, as stepping stones as she ran along them, knocking them back and out of the way as Conner sent his absolutely _epic_ Battle Blast at the rest, knocking them into the air.

Dr. O set her down on the ground where she massaged at her wrists from his grip as Elsa and the Ruby Dragon disappeared into an Invisiportal.

“Yay Conner!” Julie yelled, as she ran up, congratulating her friend.

But he didn’t have time for that.

“Trent, what was she talking about?” he demanded, bringing out his leader voice.

“If there’s something you need to tell us, now’s the time to do it,” Dr. O added, calmly, as Trent looked to the ground.

“We’re your friends,” Kira said, heartfelt. “Whatever it is, Trent, it can’t be that bad.”

Julie heard the White Ranger sigh as he turned around.

* * *

The six of them gathered in the lab, Hayley still at work, as Trent still stayed silent despite the talks of a secret from _both_ the Ruby Dragon and Elsa. Julie stood a little farther away from the boy than the others, her arms crossed as she watched him and waited.

“Trent, we’re a team,” Dr. O insisted, after trying to get through to him other ways. “We work together doing something that takes the ultimate trust in each other.”

“If you’re holding back on us, how are we supposed to trust you out there in battle?” Conner asked, frustrated. Julie could see that he was starting to get angrier and angrier at the boy’s refusal to answer.

Trent sighed, shaking his head, and Julie knew he was about to drop a bomb on them. “You’re right. Okay, look, this is how it is. I went to Mesogog’s lab to get the card back.”

Oh. That wasn’t as bad as she thought. Still awful, but could be worse.

“You _what_?” Kira asked, not as enthused about the answer. “By yourself?”

Instead of exchanging confused looks with the others, Julie kept her gaze focused on Trent as he did everything he could to not make eye contact, even looking over their shoulders as he was directly looking at them. “I found an Invisiportal, and it took me right there.” Julie saw Dr. O start to shake his head, upset, as Trent continued, “I was just trying to help you out, Ethan. So I took a shot.”

“That wasn’t a real smart thing to do,” Dr. O finally said, staring the other boy down.

“Yeah it was stupid,” Trent replied with a shrug. “I got knocked out by that thing. I barely made it to help you guys.”

“Look, Dr. O, he was just being a good friend,” Ethan said, sticking up for him. “Any of us would’ve done the same thing.”

“Well, none of you better in the future,” their mentor stressed. “That’s all I can say.”

Julie turned back to Trent who looked relieved. “It won’t happen again, I promise,” he said.

“So, that’s your big secret?” Kira asked, staring him down. Julie and Conner exchanged looks. Kira has always been on Trent’s side, 100%. Why would she continue to question him?

Trent waited a moment, staring at the Yellow Ranger, before finally answered with an overeager nod, “Yeah.” He sighed. “Look, I’m gonna go. My head’s still feeling foggy.”

“Okay, get some rest,” Dr. O said,

Trent turned to leave and, once he got far enough away, their teacher turned to Kira. “Something on your mind?”

“I don’t know,” she replied, shaking her head. “There’s just something that’s not quite right with him.”

“He’s had a good knock to the head,” Conner insisted. “I’d be feeling kinda spacey, too.” Julie stared at him as he sighed. “Well, more than usual.”

Then, the emergency beeping started.

Dr. O swiveled around in his chair and quickly found where the signal was coming from to see the Ruby Dragon walking in the quarry. “Let’s go,” he said.

“What about Trent?” Conner asked as they all moved to the middle of the lab to morph.

“We’ll let him get his head back together,” Dr. Oliver answered. “We’ll call him if it gets really ugly.”

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

* * *

“Back for more?” the Ruby Dragon taunted once they ran up to it. They didn’t give him much time to say anything else as all of the Rangers ran forwards, brandishing their sabers.

Conner and Dr. O were the only ones to get full, solid hits in while the Dragon managed to flip Kira, Ethan, and Julie. The Pink Ranger quickly pushed herself up to her feet as Conner himself was sent flying, standing in front of him to protect him as he stood up.

She took a deep breath, her chest heaving, as the Ruby Dragon started to build up a frightening purple blast from its eyes. She felt the force of it as it hit behind them, sending them flying forward.

“That was harsh,” Conner said, leaning up.

“Okay,” Ethan said, standing up. “This guy needs a little hover love. Hovercraft Cycle!”

The Blue Ranger’s Raptor Cycle rode up at the summons, stopping a few feet away from them. He immediately jumped into action, flipping over to it and climbing on. “Punch it!” he yelled.

He had barely gotten started, kicking up dirt behind him as he accelerated, before the Ruby Dragon was firing its bright purple lasers at him. Ethan just managed to dodge every time before he ramped off a small hill and fired his _own_ lasers at the monster, causing it to scream in pain.

As he formed his actual Hovercraft Cycle, Julie summoned her axe. She held the handle with two hands and, like she did against the Wolfblades, willed her energy into it and watched as it elongated into a scythe.

“Try this on for size!” she yelled, using the increased reach of the weapon to slice at the monster, knocking it unsteady as Ethan revved up and flew directly at it, firing lasers at it once again.

The force from Ethan’s lasers caused it to go flying as Trent, of all people, came out of nowhere wielding his sword. Julie looked to Dr. O who just shrugged, unaware of who had called the White Ranger to the fight.

Right as the Ruby Dragon stood up, Trent jumped in, attacking it with his sword. The Ruby Dragon reached out to grab onto him as Conner yelled to watch out, but Trent just sent out a continuous bolt of yellow energy that managed to knock the Ruby Dragon back to gain a distance between the two of them.

“Let’s bust out the Z-Rex on this trading card phony!” Conner yelled.

Julie stopped pouring energy into her axe and watched as it shrunk itself down before putting it in its usual place in the Z-Rex Blaster, kneeling underneath it. This time, however, Dr. O added his Brachio Staff to the top and Trent clipped his Drago Sword to the top of that.

“Z-Rex Blaster!” they yelled. Julie rested on her knees underneath the monstrous weapon as Dr. O and Trent supported the heavy weapon from either side of her.

“Nothing beats the Ruby Dragon!” the Ruby Dragon yelled, staring them down as it clawed its way to its feet.

“Ready!” Dr. O yelled.

“Aim!” Trent added.

“Fire!” Conner commanded.

As the weapon rumbled to life, Julie was thankful that the others were there to help her hold it up. She could feel the heat from the weapon as it fired directly above her head and she watched through the blinding light as it hit the Ruby Dragon directly, causing it to explode into a bunch of little pieces.

But Julie knew what would happen next.

She grumbled under her breath as the sky grew dark and the monster grew 30-stories tall before shouting, “The game isn’t over yet!”

“It’s Zord time!” Trent yelled.

Dr. O summoned the BrachioZord that released the Rangers Zords as Trent’s call brought forward the DragoZord and the cloned StegoZord.

“Triassic Power!” Conner yelled, summoning his sword. Julie barely had to think as she sent part of her energy to the Red Ranger, imbibing the Shield of Triumph with the energy necessary to transform Conner into the Triassic Ranger.

“Dr. O,” he asked. “Do you think you can handle the Mezodon?”

“You got it!” Dr. O replied. “Mezodon MegaZord, online!”

“Julie, you ready?”

“You know it!” She jumped into the cockpit of her StegoZord as quickly as she could so it, the cloned StegoZord, and the DragoZord could merge together. “Dino Double StegoZord!”

“Thundersaurus MegaZord!” the other three shouted.

Julie looked over to Trent in their combined cockpit, who nodded at her in return, as they felt the Power rush as all three MegaZords came online.

The Ruby Dragon, however, didn’t look intimidated as it instead started flying up into the air, looking down on them.

“Nice view!” it yelled, gloatingly, before it fired lasers from its eyes rapidly at all three of the MegaZord formations.

Julie held on tight to her console as Trent yelled, “Dino Double StegoZord! Tail Attack!”

The MegaZord jumped high into the air before flipping over, gravity pulling it down tail-first. Julie braced herself for the impact that never came as the Ruby Dragon _caught_ them and then _threw_ them to the side.

 _“Guys! Are you okay?”_ Kira asked over the comms.

“I’ve been better,” Julie replied with a groan, trying to push the buttons to get the MegaZord to stand up.

“We’ve got to work together,” Trent stressed.

 _“He’s right,”_ Conner replied.

 _“Yeah,”_ Dr. O added.

“Let’s do it!”

The three MegaZords stood side by side and gathered massive amounts of energy. Julie could feel how strong it was, her hair underneath her helmet crackling with the static.

They fired the large, combined laser straight at the Ruby Dragon and hit it directly. Julie couldn’t even see it be destroyed through the brightness of the lights.

* * *

Julie yawned the next morning as she walked into school early with the others. Dr. O had graciously allowed them to use his classroom as a study spot as long as they arrived before everyone else. It had been tough convincing the others, but they finally agreed.

She honestly thought Conner shouldn’t have driven himself he looked so tired.

“Well, did you learn anything from this Ethan?” Dr. O asked as he unlocked the doors.

He sighed. “Yeah, leave the card games at home from now on.”

Conner laughed, slapping a hand on the other boy’s shoulder, “Dude, how about leaving it to the _kids_ from now on?”

“Yeah, seriously,” Kira added. “You’re much to smart for that.”

“Hey,” Julie interjected. “My brother plays! I mean, is he probably using it as escapism from his adult life because he never actually got to have a childhood because of his genius brain and his propensity to wearing spandex, probably. But still!”

“You guys still don’t get it,” Ethan said, shaking his head. “That’s all right. I don’t expect you to understand.”

She smiled at her friend, who looked more than a little upset, as Dr. O stopped in his tracks.

“Hey, Anton,” he said. “How are ya?”

Julie looked up to see Dr. Mercer and Trent crossing paths with them in the hallway. She smiled at her teammate who smiled back at them before wiggling his eyebrows at Kira, who blushed.

“Tommy,” the other man said, holding out his hand for Dr. O to shake. “I’m fine. Hey, I understand you’re looking for a new Principal.”

“Why, are you interested?” Dr. O asked, skeptical and confused. Julie tried not to grimace. Dr. Mercer hadn’t been a good teacher and he thinks he could be a good _Principal_?

She’d rather have Elsa back than deal with all that.

“I’m sure Dr. Mercer’s _far_ too busy to run a school,” Kira interjected, loudly. Julie found herself nodding alongside her.

“Yeah, far too busy,” Ethan added.

Dr. Mercer laughed. “Relax, everybody, she’s right.” The two grown men smiled at each other before Dr. Mercer’s pager started to beep. “Oh, see? Even as we speak.”

He went to pull it out of his pocket and something fell out of it, Julie went to bend down to pick it up for him before she realized what it was.

Ethan beat her to it, picking the extremely rare Ruby Dragon card that had been taking from his just the day before off the floor. “Uh, how did you get this?”

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Dr. Mercer replied, taking it out of Ethan’s offered hand. “Trent, is this yours?”

“No,” the White Ranger said, shaking his head. “I don’t know how it got there.”

He seemed panicked, or at least, more panicked than usual. Julie and Conner exchanged a look as Dr. Mercer started to collapse.

“Anton!” Dr. O exclaimed, reaching out for the man. “Are you alright?”

Dr. Mercer ripped himself out of Dr. O’s hands and fell to floor, facing away from them. “I’m fine,” he said, definitely not fine. “Just leave me alone.”

“We should get you some help,” Dr. O insisted. He turned towards the group of teenagers, panicked. Julie could only shrug. The nurse didn’t usually show up until five minutes before first period and they were almost a full hour away from that.

Instead of saying anything, Dr. Mercer took off running with Dr. O following quickly behind. Conner, Kira, and Ethan took off too while Julie stayed back with Trent as he yelled after them, “Leave him alone! He’ll be fine!”

“Trent, what’s going on?” she asked, following after him as he started chasing the group through the students that had already arrived. “He needs a doctor!”

Julie couldn’t hear any of the words they were saying to each other as Dr. Mercer kept getting farther and farther ahead, but Dr. O was quickly catching up. They finally made it to the science classroom, probably the one room in the school that Dr. Mercer was most familiar with, and cornered the man.

Trent pushed past all of them to get closer to his adopted father who had turned way, not facing them, but Julie could definitely see that he wasn’t in a good way.

Then, he turned around and morphed into Mesogog.

“No _way_ ,” Conner said in a mix of anger and confusion. “Mercer is…”

“Mesogog,” Dr. O finished, staring in shock.

Ethan sighed, not taking his eyes off their biggest enemy. “Oh, this has been one crazy week.”

“I think I’m still asleep,” Julie added, rubbing her eyes. “I mean, there’s no _way_ that this is actually happening, right?” At everyone’s silence, she stressed, “ _Right_?”

“This is your big secret?” Kira asked, turning to Trent who was staring at the floor. Julie turned to him as well, stepping farther away from him. “You knew this all along?”

The White Ranger looked up, panicked, before saying, “He’s my _father_. How could I tell you?”

“You will pay for betraying me, Trent,” Mesogog said. “You will pay dearly.”

“I never betrayed you!” Trent replied, even more panicked than before, glancing back and forth from them to Mesogog.

“You betrayed us, if anything,” Conner spat out, glaring at the boy.

“We _trusted_ you,” Julie said, hurt. “ _I_ trusted you.”

“Silence!” Mesogog yelled, as he started to pulse with energy before the monster faded away to reveal the man inside.

Dr. Mercer fell to the ground, holding his head before looking up at Trent before apologizing and holding his hand up and opened an Invisiportal in the middle of the classroom.

Julie stared at the spot where he had been before, before slowly turning to look at Trent who was sputtering for an answer.

But one didn’t come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE'RE IN THE END GAME! As a super fun treat to draw out the suspense and not at all because I haven't had time to write much the past few days and I need to catch up, I will be posting one of the last chapters next Monday, Wednesday, and Friday which meeeeeeeans that The Pink Redux is soon reaching the end! BUT! Julie's story doesn't stop here so go ahead and subscribe to the Julie Stewart collection to get all of the fun extras AND the sequel. See ya next week!


	28. A Test of Trust

Julie honestly didn’t know how she sat on that morning’s revelations through the entirety of the school day. She kept giving looks to all of the others, trying to communicate without actual words about the situation, but didn’t know how.

Trent had been _lying_ to them for so long, longer than they probably even knew. He had to have known back when he was evil and actually working with Mesogog that the monster was his adopted father, right?

At the end of the day, Julie and the others all piled into Conner’s car. The Red Ranger had been silent all day, filled with rage at being duped by someone they thought was a friend. The car ride didn’t change that. Neither she nor Kira or Ethan said anything the entire drive out to Dr. O’s house and their Dino Lab.

She honestly didn’t even know what there was _too_ say.

“I always knew Mercer wasn’t exactly PTA material, but Mesogog? That’s whack.” Ethan said, the first one to break the silence once they all went down to the lab.

Julie sat against the wall, her legs pulled up to her chest as she watched Conner pace angrily back and forth. Kira just stood still in the middle of the room, looking lost.

“I’ll tell you what’s whack,” Conner said, stopping his fortieth turn around the room. “Trent not telling us. That’s whack.”

“Secrets don’t make friends,” Julie added, from her spot on the floor. “And I thought we were friends.”

“Look,” Kira said, shaking out of her stupor. “I’m as mad about this as you guys are, but don’t you think we still owe Trent a chance to explain? I mean, maybe there’s a really good reason he didn’t tell us.”

Julie rolled her eyes.

“Well, I hope there is,” Dr. O said, the first words that he had spoken to them since they found out about the whole Mercer-Mesogog situation. “Because if not, then I have no choice but to ask Trent to surrender his morpher and give up being a Power Ranger.” He turned and walked off and Julie couldn’t see where he went.

Wow. Give up his morpher? She had never even _thought_ that that could be a consequence to something. Julie wrapped her opposite hand around the bracelet where her Dino Gem sat, holding it tightly. She didn’t know what she would do without it.

“Don’t tell me you feel bad for Trent,” Conner asked Kira, disappointed.

“Yeah,” Ethan said. “Do you want someone you can’t trust running around with those Powers?”

“Someone you can’t trust running around with those Powers _and_ supposedly fighting on your side,” Julie added before standing up. “Kira, it’s not looking good.”

The other girl started stuttering. “Well, I just hate for it to end this way for Trent. I mean, if it were me and I had to give back my Powers, I don’t know if I could handle it.”

Conner chuckled. “Oh, now, that is ironic,” he said “I remember when you didn’t want it to begin at all.”

“Yeah, right,” Kira scoffed.

“No, really,” Julie said, smiling. “We got back from detention and you wanted out immediately.”

“Right? And the hot potato with the yellow Gem,” Ethan said, grinning.

_“Okay,” Conner said. “So we all agree. No one talks about this to anyone, no matter what.”_

_“I can do better than that,” Kira said, moving to stand in front of them. She pulled the yellow rock out of her pocked and thrusted it into Conner’s hand. “Just forget I was here, and I’ll do the same.”_

_“Wait, how come he gets it?” Ethan asked._

_Kira rolled her eyes. “Well, here.” She plucked it out of Conner’s hand and placed it in Ethan’s. “Happy now?”_

_“Do you really think you should-“_

_“What do you mean, Princess?”_

_Julie sighed. “If you’d let me finish- do you really think you should walk away? What if this was something big? What if the rocks like, did something to us?”_

_“Like what?” Ethan asked._

_“Well you said it in the woods,” Julie said. “What if we got superpowers or something? It’s either that or those monsters were a group hallucination and-“_

_“You know what? I give up!” Kira let out, interrupting Julie again. She turned and started to storm away._

“Okay, I admit,” Kira said. “At first, I wasn’t so into it, but everything is different now.”

Julie thought about that and, yeah, everything is different now. They definitely weren’t the same people who got detention and stole magic rocks from a Creepy Murder Basement, they were better. Better people, better rangers, and, to Julie, better versions of themselves.

“It’s changed us,” Kira said, sitting down next to Ethan. “Being a Ranger’s changed all of us. And look at you, Conner.” She added, gesturing to the Red Ranger, their leader. “You are in no way the same dumb jock that you were when we started.”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” Conner asked, skeptically.

Julie couldn’t help but laugh. “I mean, you’re still a dumb jock, but I know you at least have a heart. Right, Ball Boy?”

“You know what I mean,” Kira said, waving his comment off.

“If he doesn’t, I do,” Ethan added. “You have come a long way, bro.”

Julie could still remember the rage from the day they fell into the sinkhole, the day they got their Powers, whenever Conner had put on his Ladies Man act.

_“Oh, it’s like that, is it?” Ethan said angrily, putting a hand on his arm as if to stop him and square up._

_“Yeah. It’s like that,” Conner said. “Isn’t it Ice Princess?”_

_Julie startled as he looked directly at her. “That’s Ice Queen to you, Ball Boy.” She flipped her ‘long, nice smelling hair’ or, whatever it was he said, and pushed to the front of the group._

But then that, where she couldn’t even stand to be around him, turned into honestly one of her truest friendships.

_“Hey Julie.”_

_The video shoot was over and they were all walking back to the parking lot to head home when Conner called her name. The Pink Ranger turned around to see Conner awkwardly standing and holding something behind his back._

_“What’s up, Conner?” she asked. “Are you still cool with giving me a ride home?”_

_“It’s not that,” the Red Ranger replied. “It’s… here.” He pulled whatever it was from behind his back and Julie felt her throat start to close when she saw it was a wrapped present. The paper was a very faded red and the wrapping was kind of messy, but there was still no doubt about what it was._

_“Conner, what-“_

_“We really dropped the ball on your birthday, huh?” he said sheepishly. “I’m sorry it’s so late, but happy birthday Jules.”_

_Julie started to tear up a little as she walked forward to talk the offered present out of the other boy’s hand. He immediately shoved his hands in his pockets and looked to her as she clutched it to her chest._

_“Well. Aren’t you going to open it?”_

_She smiled brightly as she ripped into the present, confused as to what it could possibly be but also excited and overjoyed that he actually remembered._

_Inside was a simple picture frame with a picture inside from one of the first times the whole team had gotten together after Dr. Oliver became the Black Ranger. The five of them were sitting at Cyberspace on the couch. Dr. Oliver sat in the middle with Conner and Kira on either side of him while Julie sat on the arm of the couch next to Conner while Ethan leaned up against it from in front._

_They were all laughing and smiling and Julie had no idea who even took the picture or when exactly it had happened, but it was perfect._

_“Conner this…”_

_“It’s not a lot but-“_

_He didn’t even get to finish his sentence before she threw herself at him. He quickly pulled his hands from his pockets and wrapped his arms around her as she threw her own around him and hugged him tightly._

_“Thank you, Ball Boy,” she said, her voice thick with tears. “This is perfect.”_

_“Happy birthday, Princess,” he said, squeezing her tight._

“Okay, you’re point made,” Conner said, smiling softly. “But what about you, gamer dude?” he added, turning to Ethan. “You’re not exactly Mr. Cyber Geek anymore.”

Julie tried not to laugh. Ethan had been _such_ a know-it-all in the beginning, always there to show off his knowledge or his skills. He knew what it took to get somewhere, even if he got pretty one-track-minded at the worst of times, _especially_ when it came to their fight where he said she wasn’t a good Ranger.

_“Any luck?” she asked the other two teenaged Rangers. Kira shrugged in reply._

_“Couldn’t focus,” Ethan said, staring forward. “Looks like you didn’t have that problem though.”_

_Julie frowned and she could see Kira turn and look at Ethan with the same look._

_“What exactly is your problem?” Julie asked, suddenly. Dr. Oliver looked up from the monitor to look at her at this point, but Ethan still stared forward. “You’ve been treating me like dirt all day. What’s the issue?”_

_“You’re not a good Ranger,” Ethan finally said after a minute. “You’re scared all the time, you don’t put as much effort into training as the rest of us, you don’t do as much as the rest of us because you’re so busy and when you do stuff, your Zord gets stolen, but then you go out and it’s like nothing happened while the rest of us are trying to figure out what to do you’re off playing Ice Princess.”_

_Julie stared in shocked silence at the Blue Ranger as she felt a bubble rise in her throat. She watched as Kira smacked the other boy on the shoulder._

_“Is that… is that what you really think?” she asked, her voice thick with repressed tears and confusion. Julie reached out to grab onto her friend’s shirtsleeve, but he only jerked his arm out of the way. “Ethan, seriously? Do you honestly think I’m not a good Ranger?”_

But they had worked past it, especially once he saw the extremes she was willing to go through to be a Ranger _and_ be a professional figure skater. He even started taking the opportunity to talk to the Astro Rangers, learning what it was like onboard their ship and making friends with them.

“Yeah, I am pretty cool, aren’t I?” Ethan said, with a bright grin on his face, as he leaned back in Dr. O’s computer chair.

“Don’t get carried away, but it’s definitely not embarrassing hanging out with you anymore,” Conner said, with a little bit of snark.

“ _And_ I don’t have to worry about randomly being attacked by a sprinkler system,” Julie added.

“But what about you, Jules?” Kira chimed in. The Pink Ranger turned in shock. “You’ve _definitely_ changed.”

“What do you mean? I-“

“No, she’s right,” Ethan said, holding out his hand to stop her and righting himself in the chair. “You’re so different. You’re less afraid, for one.”

_Any time that she stood in front of a downed teammate, the only thing between a monster and them._

“You trust yourself more,” Conner added, smiling. “You know what you can and can’t do, and how to turn those can’ts into cans.”

_The taking of two years of classes just to graduate with the others. Landing the first quad in a ranked skating competition by a woman. Fake dating Hunter to try and make Conner jealous._

Kira came up beside her and elbow bumped her. “You know what you want and you go out and get it.”

_Her chest was heaving as the music finally came to a stop, her head dipped back to look up at the bright fluorescent lights as the crowd cheered for her._

_Two hours later, after the rest of the skaters did their programs and after the interviews and the talks with the record keepers, Julie stood on the highest tier of the podium – a bouquet of pink flowers in her arms and a gold medal around her neck._

“I mean, okay,” she said, feeling herself start to blush. “I guess I have changed.”

“But you know what still trips me out?” Ethan asked, leaning forwards. “That our teacher’s a Power Ranger _legend_.”

_On the video, there was a small voice that called out a ‘hey!’ and the boy on screen turned around. Julie snorted. “‘I’m Kimberly. You’re new around here, aren’t you?’”_

_“‘Yeah. I’m Tommy.’”_

_“Shut up there’s no way,” Julie said excitedly, gripping Conner’s arm. “Look at him! Look at his hair! He’s practically an infant!”_

_They watched on screen as a woman with giant horns and a staff declared that she had chosen Dr. Oliver._

_“Her evil magic was too strong. I couldn’t fight it.”_

_“’This boy is truly the one that shall become my evil Green Ranger! RISE, my Green Ranger!’”_

_“She commanded me to destroy the Power Rangers, and I almost succeeded.”_

_“’I know you’re the Green Ranger’” the video of Kimberly, the first Pink Ranger, said. Video Tommy turned to her angrily. “’Well, then, Pink Ranger, you should also know that you and the other Power Rangers will soon be destroyed.’”_

_“But my friends never gave up. They helped me destroy the Power Sword and I was freed.”_

_“’Rita’s spell is broken!’ ‘Join us, and we can defeat Rita!’ ‘After everything that’s happened?’”_

_“’It’s where you belong.’”_

_Julie smiled at that, glancing at Conner who had also been looking at her. They both quickly turned back to the screen._

_“And that’s when I joined the team. But not for long. I soon discovered the Green Ranger powers were only temporary.”_

_They watched on screen as Dr. Oliver, demorphed, flickered green before disappearing. Then, it flashed to a scene in the Command Center with all the other Rangers around, looking sad. “’Alpha and I felt it was time to create an even more powerful Ranger to combat Lord Zedd and his diabolical evil,’” the voice of Zordon said. “’And now, my friends, I present to you – the White Ranger!’”_

_On screen, the Ranger turned around and watched as a white clad Ranger descended from a light. The four teenagers gaped as they watched the White Ranger unclip his helmet and pull it off, to reveal a young Dr. Oliver._

_“’Guess who’s back?’”_

“And he definitely shows it,” Julie added. “I mean, watching him fight is amazing.”

_“There’s Dr. O!” one of the others called. Julie looked up through their windshield and watched as Golden Rod tried to stomp on their teacher, who only barely managed to roll out of the way in time._

_Julie couldn’t one hundred percent see exactly what he was doing, but she did see him jam his staff into the ground and unleash a giant dust storm at Golden Rod, knocking him back as he tried to cover his eyes, but the dust caused him to spark._

_Their teacher, again, slammed his staff into the ground and a giant fissure opened up underneath Golden Rod, pulling him into the Earth._

_“That’s one way to do it,” Julie watched in awe._

_“Yeah.”_

_“Sweet.”_

_“Alright!”_

_She knew she wasn’t the only one that forgot that their mentor was a legend in and of himself, but moments like this solidified it. He was taking on a 40-story monster without a Zord._

_Finally, their teacher jammed his staff into the ground one more time and it erupted into flames – sending Golden Rod sky high and, by the time the flames cleared, the monster was nothing more than a memory as he was decimated on impact._

_The four Rangers in the MegaZord celebrated their teacher absolutely owning the monster._

_It paid to have a legacy on the team, after all._

“Yeah, Krampus is pretty great,” Julie said, saying the nickname the other Rangers from team’s past had been calling him since he took on a fourth color.

“We owe him a lot,” Kira added, earnestly.

Ethan sighed. “Yeah, we do.”

“Are you guys forgetting who almost ended it for good?” Conner asked. Julie frowned, knowing _exactly_ what he was talking about.

And the conversation had made it’s way back around to Trent.

_“Julie! Break off from the main MegaZord,” Dr. O said over their comms. “I have an idea!”_

_“Okay!” she replied. She turned to her teammates and nodded. “Good luck guys.”_

_“Stella! StegoZord out!”_

_The Pink Ranger jumped out of the combined cockpit of the MegaZord and watched as it reconfigured itself so that they TyrannoZord’s legs were the main source of support, just like it had done against their fight with the shark monster. Julie turned to Dr. O expectantly, waiting for instructions, only to hear the White Ranger._

_“I was hoping you’d do that,” he said. The two Rangers on the ground turned to where the White Ranger was standing and saw him waving his sword and a purple energy around in the air. “StegoZord! You are under my command.”_

_“No!” Julie shouted as the purple beam of energy hit her Zord and turned it around, facing the MegaZord. She went to run forwards, but Dr. Oliver held her back as she screamed. “You can’t do that!”_

_“Your payments are late,” the White Ranger said. “This is a repossession.”_

_“Stella!”_

_“Julie! What’s going on?” Kira’s voice said over the comms._

_Still keeping a tight arm around her, Dr. O replied, “He stole the StegoZord. It’s under his command now.”_

_Julie watched, tears dripping down her face under her helmet as the White Ranger jumped into the cockpit of his DragoZord and commanded it to fly and land on the back of her StegoZord, lifting it high into the air before dropping it and watching as it reformed into the torso of his own MegaZord._

_“Give her back!” Julie shouted up at him. “She’s mine!”_

“But he was under the Gem’s control!” Kira argued as they moved, changing their positions in the lab. “It’s different now.”

“Yeah,” Conner replied, snarkily. “Now he forgets to tell us that Mesogog is his dad. I’m glad he’s changed.”

“I mean, at least he’s not actively trying to kill us this time,” Julie added, shoulder bumping him.

“I made a promise.”

Julie’s head snapped to the entrance of the lab at the new voice as Trent calmly walked in, followed by Dr. O. Conner and Ethan immediately stood up, pushing themselves in front of Julie and Kira without even thinking. The two girls exchanged a look.

Boys.

“What about your promise to us?” Conner asked, stalking forward. The anger that had been in his voice before their lovely little trip down memory lane was back in full force.

“I _never_ let my feelings get in the way of my Ranger duties,” Trent explained, passionately.

Dr. O sighed. “That may be true Trent, but you put us in a difficult position. Conner may be right. I just don’t know how we can ever trust you again.”

“Tell me what I can do to make this right,” Trent pleaded. “I make no excuses for the harm I’ve caused, but, you know, things haven’t been easy for me.”

Julie crossed her arms and bit her bottom lip, thinking. He _had_ been possessed by a magic rock, turned against his only friends, pushed to his absolute limits, have to fight a carbon copy clone of himself, and deal with the knowledge that at _any time_ Mesogog could do something beyond reproach that he could never come back to.

But still, he had _lied_.

“I never meant to find the white Dino Gem,” Trent said, staring down at his communicator bracelet in a way that reminded Julie of herself doing that only a couple of hours ago. “It found me. I tried to fight it, but the Power was too strong. Anton Mercer is the only family I have! I knew I couldn’t break my promise to him.”

“So, I decided to fight with you guys until he was freed of that mutant freak forever,” he said, with a shrug. “But first, I had to free myself by destroying the evil clone of the White Ranger.”

He sighed. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Mesogog. My father thought he could handle this on his own, and so did I. I know now I was wrong.”

“Anton Mercer was my friend,” Dr. Oliver said, speaking up. “I understand your loyalty. The question now is, do they?”

He pointed to the four, original Dino Rangers.

They exchanged a look, solemn in serious. Julie could see everyone’s thoughts playing out across their faces. Ethan’s trepidation, Conner’s anger, Kira’s acceptance.

Her worry.

“Being a Ranger is the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Trent defended, now facing them directly instead of having to split his attention between the group of teenagers and Dr. O. “I don’t want to lose that, trust me.”

“Yeah,” Conner replied, shaking his head. “I’ve heard that one before.”

“How many times now?” Julie asked, sarcastically.

“So let me prove it,” Trent asked…

Right as the city’s alarm started beeping.

Julie quickly turned to the computer monitor to see probably the ugliest monster that Mesogog has every created destroying the city. She honestly didn’t even know how to describe, other than big and ugly and terrifying.

“Here’s your chance,” Dr. O said to the White Ranger.

“ _What_?” Conner asked, stunned. “You’re not seriously gonna trust him?”

“Look at that thing, we have no choice,” Kira said.

“We _always_ have a choice,” Julie added. “I just don’t know if Trent is the right one.”

“We _do_ always have a choice,” Ethan said, standing up. “And I choose that Trent come with us.”

Conner and Julie exchanged flabbergasted looks as both Ethan and Kira stood up, walking to the center of the lab with Trent. Seriously? The Red Ranger just shook his head as he too walked over to the middle of the lab.

Julie though, wasn’t so sure.

“Thank you,” Trent said to them. “I won’t let you down.” He turned to Julie, specifically. “Julie, I promise.”

“I sweat to Dino Jesus Trent, if you make me regret this I will _ruin_ you,” the Pink Ranger said before following the others to morph.

“Ready?” Dr. O asked.

“Ready!”

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

“White Ranger, Dino Power! Ha!”

* * *

The monster was already big, towering over the city, as they approached it and Julie could only look up in horror. Right as it caught sight of them (did it even _have_ eyes?) it disappeared into nothingness.

“What the-“ Conner asked, looking around confused.

“Look out!” Kira yelled.

Julie turned to where she was pointing only to be met with a giant hand flying at them that swept them off of their feet. Julie landed hard on the pavement before springing back up.

“Oh, man!” Conner yelled.

“Dive!” Julie added, lunging herself to the side as the monster’s foot came crashing down to where they had just been.

The six Rangers pulled out their blasters in unison and each fired a shot, hitting the monster directly. Despite the sparks, the monster seemed undeterred as it disappeared again.

“This is going to get real old,” Julie mumbled, holding onto the grip of her blaster, looking around for it to appear out of thin air again.

“Where’d he go?” Ethan asked.

The monster rematerialized only a few short feet away from them, this time their own size. “Miss me?”

She barely had any time to think before it was firing some type of blast at them, sending them flying again. Trent and Dr. O somehow managed to dodge it as she laid with the others on the ground in pain.

The two of them ran forwards to try and attack, but the monster just fired another blast at the two of them that was so strong it sent them flying into the water below.

“Guys!” Conner yelled as he ran to the edge of the dock, glancing in. Julie followed, staying further back, just in case.

“Two washed-up Rangers,” the monster taunted.

“Triassic time?” Ethan asked.

Julie and Kira nodded as Conner summoned the Shield of Triumph. “You know it!”

Conner transformed once they lent him their Powers, standing taller once he donned the armor of the Triassic Ranger. “Time for a little intergalactic action!” he yelled before disappearing with the monster.

“Guys, help!” Dr. O called from the side of the pier. Julie quickly ran over and grabbed on to her teammates hand, slowly pulling him up.

Right in time for an un-Triassic Conner to fall from the sky.

“Sabers!” Kira yelled.

“On it!” Julie added, summoning her own.

The four of them ran forwards, brandishing their swords to try and take the monster’s attention away from Conner who looked like he was struggling to stand. They got within ten feet, closest they had been able to all battle, right as the monster turned around and fired a blast at them.

Julie let out a scream as it hit her directly in the chest, sending her into a flip as she flew backwards before she landed in a pile with the others.

The outcome of this fight looked about as ugly as the monster.

“Leave them alone!” she heard Conner scream.

She forced her head up to look for her friend as the monster turned back around to face him.

“Very well,” it said. “I’ll destroy you!”

“No, Conner!” Julie screamed, reaching out as the monster’s spiny arm started to grow, heading straight towards Conner who was still on the ground.

But Trent jumped right in the way, grabbing the arm and stopping it only two feet from eviscerating Conner.

“Not so fast,” the White Ranger said.

“Step aside,” the monster replied. “It’s the Red Ranger I want.”

“The Rangers are a team,” she overheard Trent say as she carefully pushed herself to her feet. She held out a hand to help Kira up as the other boy continued. “If you’re gonna destroy somebody, you better start with me.”

He grabbed the arm from the other side and flipped it before throwing it back at the monster who only barely managed to wrangle it before it could hit him.

“Trent saved Conner,” Kira said in disbelief.

“Now where’s all the tough talk,” the White Ranger said, still guarding Conner as he tried to stand up.

Julie could hear the monster growl. “I’m through talking,” it said.

“Good,” Trent replied, pulling out his sword. “’Cause so am I.”

He pulled it back and ran forward, blurring as he struck the monster repetitively. Julie quickly ran forward and shoved her shoulder underneath Conner’s arm to help him get his balance back.

“Trent saved me,” he whispered to her.

“I think he saved us all by stepping in,” she whispered back.

Once Trent stopped, sending the monster flying, all five of the other Rangers ran up and stood behind him, ready to finish this fight for good.

“All together guys,” the White Ranger said.

Julie summoned her Stego Axe and held it firmly as the other’s slotted their weapons around it. She kneeled in her familiar place on the ground as the monstrous weapon was formed, ready to blast the ugly monster to smithereens.

“Z-Rex Blaster, Super Mode!”

“Ready.”

“Aim.”

“Fire!”

Julie shook with the recoil as the Z-Rex Blaster built up a giant charge and fired it, hitting the monster dead on. The smoke barely began to clear as the ugly beast, now fully sparking, fell over and crashed on the ground.

Still she managed to hear it say, “Energy transmitted.”

“What’s it doing?” Conner asked, confused.

“What energy is it transmitting?” she asked, worried.

And then the sounds of a large body of water being displaced sounded from behind them. Julie closed her eyes in anguish before turning around to see a giant MegaZord emerging from the ocean.

“He’s copied the MegaZord!” Ethan yelled.

“Oh hey, why can’t our MegaZord be those colors?” Julie asked, staring up at the seafoam green a teal MegaZord that was rising out of the depths, growing taller and taller.

“How do we fight that thing?” Conner asked, slapping her shoulder.

Dr. O pulled his communicator up to his face as he yelled, “Only one way! Brachio!”

Julie could hear the Zords roaring in the distance as the Black Ranger turned towards them. “I’ll take the Triassic Rover, you man the MegaZord.”

“Got it,” Conner replied.

The four original Rangers jumped into their Zords and immediately formed the Thundersaurus MegaZord as they heard Dr. O lock into the Mezodon MegaZord.

The two good MegaZords stood, for a moment, waiting for the Replica Zord to attack. When it finally did, they were ready.

It went straight towards the MegaZord that it was a copy of, so Dr. O in the Mezodon MegaZord had time to quickly get behind it to attack. They reached out with the Tricera arm and swung, but it returned the blow with its copy of the Tyranno arm.

“Ouch, that’s gonna sting,” Julie said as she gripped tighter to her console.

“Call it, guys!” Conner yelled.

“Dino Drill,” Ethan said.

“Engage!” Julie added.

The whirring of the Dino Drill started up quickly as the Thundersaurus MegaZord lunged forward, rinsing through the Replica.

 _“Hatchet Attack!”_ she heard Dr. O say.

They righted the Thundersaurus MegaZord, turning it to watch as their teacher charged up two blasts from the double axes, sending them straight at the evil MegaZord.

Julie couldn’t hold in her loud ‘Whoop!’ as it fell, exploding on impact.

_“Wait, guys-“_

The smoke from the explosion was literally sucked up, disappearing as the ugly monster from before appeared in a brilliant flash of green light. Julie immediately bent down and hit her head on her console.

Of course.

“Thanks for the energy boost!” the monster yelled, it’s voice carrying over the city.

“Is this a joke?” Conner asked.

_“Not funny.”_

With no notice, the now giant, ugly monster shot off two energy blasts that hit the two MegaZords directly. As it shook, Julie held tightly onto her control console, hoping that it would stop soon and that they’d be able to figure it out.

_“Julie! Let’s go Double Dino!”_

“On it,” she replied to Trent as she pushed the button that would dismantle the StegoZord from the Thundersaurus MegaZord. She wasn’t even free for a whole minute as the DragoZord and cloned StegoZord appeared, the three quickly forming the Dino Double StegoZord.

“Leave my friends alone,” Trent said as he locked himself into the MegaZord. Julie nodded at him, once, that he gratefully returned before they stood together and faced the monster.

“Fine,” it said. “I’ll start with you.”

“Up we go,” Julie said, pushing the button that would make them fly, right as an energy blast hit the ground where they had just been.

“Tail attack!” Trent yelled, once they got high enough in the sky.

Julie held on tight as the MegaZord flipped in midair, coming down harshly as the spiked tail hit the monster directly.

“This battle is over,” Trent said, once they regained their feet.

With all the speed of the White Ranger himself, the Dino Double StegoZord held out its weapon and glided forward, sliding through the monster.

Julie held her breath as they turned back around, watching as the ugly monster sparked and fell over before finally, _finally_ exploding. She looked around, cautiously, waiting for something else of Mesogog’s to appear, but nothing came.

“I meant what I said,” Trent said, leaning over to her and saying over the comms at the same time. “You can count on me.”

The Pink Ranger just nodded at him in return.

Maybe they could.

* * *

Conner and Julie stood off to the side once they returned back to the lab as Kira and Ethan jumped on Trent immediately, saying how he had done such a good job as if they hadn’t all helped. They exchanged a look as the other trio walked over to Dr. O, who was sitting in his usual chair.

“Thanks for the help out there, Trent,” the Black Ranger said. “It’s always a whole lot easier when the whole team works together.”

“Thanks, Dr. O,” the boy replied. “Like I said, I’m in this for good. That is, if you’ll have me.”

Kira, spoke up first. “Well, I vote yes.”

Ethan. “Me too.”

Dr. O just nodded, with a smile on his face, before turning to the two of them. “Conner? Julie?”

Conner sighed before turning around, staring down at the White Ranger. “Just one question,” he said. “Are you sure you wanna do this?”

“There’s no take-backsies,” Julie added. “Once a Ranger, always a Ranger.”

“I mean,” Conner continued. “There’s a very real chance you’ll have to face Mesogog one day.”

Trent wasted no time. “If Mesogog wins, my father is lost forever. Mesogog _has_ to be defeated, no matter what.”

“Even if he takes your dad with him?” Julie couldn’t help but ask. She heard Kira inhale sharply as Dr. O cut her a look.

“Even then,” Trent replied.

The Pink Ranger nodded. “Then I vote yes.”

“Me too,” Conner said.

Julie pretended not to see the relieved sigh that Trent let out. She only hoped that it wouldn’t be a mistake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter, I know, but its the flashback episode so it's expected. WEDNESDAY is the first chapter of the two part finale so get HYPE!


	29. Thunder Struck Part 1

“You know, when I said I owed you a favor, I didn’t think it would translate to dress shopping. You know that I’m not that type of gay, right?”

Julie turned from probably the eightieth rack of dresses that she had looked at in at least four different stores to see Cam Watanabe standing there with his arms crossed. She couldn’t help but smile sheepishly at the older man, slightly ashamed.

After she had sent Hunter away with the bouquet that she had bought for him to give to her, the day of the tree planting, she had received a text from the Samurai a few hours later, thanking her with a picture message attached of a sleeping Thunder ninja and the bouquet of flowers in a jar next to a bed that Cam had been sharing with him.

She had replied back, _“Be careful, I’m fond of taking favors from Ninjas.”_ And well, here they were. In the middle of the mall at the height of prom dress shopping season.

“No, I know,” she replied. “I just… I couldn’t go with Katherine because, well, you’ve seen her, and Kira doesn’t care enough to even bother, and I think she mentioned something about making her own dress? And her style and my style don’t mix very well.”

“Julie, come on,” the ex-Power Ranger and Samurai said, sitting down on one of the benches that the shop provided. “What’s going on?”

“I just,” she took a deep breath, pushing past another dress with a godawful amount of rhinestones in a weird, swirling pattern. “I didn’t even want to go, not really, because going would mean seeing Conner with Krista and I can’t shake this _stupid_ crush that I have on him, so that means I’m going to be absolutely alone at my Senior Prom all because Katherine _and_ my brother ganged up on me saying that they didn’t really get to enjoy their own Proms because, you know, monsters and the whole only being thirteen thing.”

Cam sighed. “Look, why don’t you just ask somebody? Seriously. It doesn’t even matter who. I know Dustin’s upset that he can’t go with you because you don’t really get a prom at ninja school, but anyone would be lucky to go with you.”

“It’s just a stupid dance,” she shot back, flipping through another rack and pulling out one in a shade of pink that she actually liked that wasn’t completely offensive to look at, before putting it back once she realized it had Dino Jesus-forbid _feathers_ attached to the bottom. “I just want to go with someone special, ya know? The only date I’ve ever been on was the fake one with Hunter and-“

“Wait,” Cam said, interrupting her. “You’ve never…?”

The Pink Ranger shook her head. “Nope. Not at all. I’ve always been way too busy to even think about dating or relationships in general and then, of course, when I finally find a guy that I like he has the emotional range of a teaspoon and can’t tell. I’ve never even _kissed_ a guy, much less _been with_ one. People talk about me on ice skating forums as ‘Pure as the Driven Snow’ or something else as equally as garbage.”

Instead of replying, Cam walked past her and pulled out a dress that she hadn’t seen, holding it up for her. It was a soft pink color with a lightly layered tulle skirt and a halter top with a keyhole at the neckline. There were no feathers or rhinestones or glitter, just a simple dress.

“That’s beautiful,” she replied, reaching out slowly to run her fingers down it. “How did you-?”

“I guess I might be that kind of gay afterall,” Cam replied, smiling. “Now, would sleeping with Hunter and I help you get over your… issues?”

Julie stared, gob smacked, at the words that came out of his mouth. She thought he was joking at first, but, nope. Cameron Watanabe was completely serious.

Finally, she shrugged as she took the dress, holding it close to her. “Couldn’t hurt.”

* * *

Later that afternoon, Julie pushed open the doors to Cyberspace to meet up with her friends and teammates to study, only to see Conner and Ethan decidedly _not_ studying, but standing directly in front of the doors.

“Julie!” Conner said, spotting her. “Just the person I wanted to see. Tell Ethan he can’t go to the movies instead of prom.”

“Oh, what movie?” Julie asked, turning to the Blue Ranger and watching as Conner’s jaw dropped. Ethan smiled at her.

“It’s not just _any_ movie, it’s the sequel to ‘Asteroid Conquest,’” Ethan explained. “The _greatest_ sci-fi film of all time.”

Conner groaned. “Dude! It’s the prom! It’s tradition!”

Ethan started walking forward to find a table and Julie quickly followed, watching as Conner fell into step beside them.

“Oh yeah, nice tradition,” Ethan replied. “The smart kids spend all year the entire semester in agony, wondering if they’ll get a date _or_ if they’ll be forced to sit in the corner with the other smart kids” He threw his bag down on an available table roughly, sliding into a seat before turning to Conner with a sigh. “It’s too painful, bro.”

“Whoa,” Conner said, stunned. “I never thought about it like that.”

Julie scoffed. “Of course you wouldn’t,” she said. “You easily have your pick of dates, and you’ve _had_ one for who knows how long now? Unless Krista decided to ditch you.”

Conner laughed. “Nope, Krista and I are still going together.”

Ethan and Julie exchanged an eye roll as Kira slid into the last available seat.

“Hey Kira,” Conner said, turning to her. Julie held in a groan, knowing that the prom talk would unfortunately continue. “Who are you going to the prom with?”

Kira laughed. “I don’t have a date.”

“You don’t seem too worried,” Conner replied, leaning back in his chair.

“It’s just a dance,” Kira replied. Julie reached over and high-fived the girl.

“I’m going alone too,” the Pink Ranger added. “Not for lack of trying, but I’ve decided to embrace it at this point.” She turned to the other girl. “We can go stag together and make our own fun, it’ll be great.”

Devin came up then and awkwardly pulled Conner away as Julie pulled a textbook out of her bag, opening it on the table.

“What do you think that’s about?” Ethan asked, motioning towards the two guys. Julie and Kira exchanged a look before shrugging.

“No idea,” Julie replied.

* * *

“Why aren’t you going with anybody?”

Julie turned and looked up at Conner, forcing a smile on her face as the boy ran up to her. The others had all already left: Ethan to get in line to get tickets for the ‘Asteroid Conquest’ sequel and Kira to a band rehearsal. She didn’t actually know where Trent was, but he was probably around somewhere.

Leaving just the two of them.

“I mean, it’s not like I had anybody ask,” Julie replied with a shrug as she looked back down at her notes. Conner sighed, sitting down next to her.

“Look, I can find someone for you! There are a couple of the guys on the team who-“

“I don’t want to go with any of your soccer teammates, Conner,” she snapped, before he could continue. “I just… it’s fine. Please, leave it.”

Conner sighed again. “I just want to know why-“

“Because the person I want to go with is already going with someone else,” she replied, quickly. Julie felt the pure heat of her flush come over and she knew her face was about as red as a tomato as she evaded eye contact with the boy, the said person that she wanted to go with it. “So, it’s fine. I’m still going, just alone.”

“Do they know?” Conner asked. “Seriously, I’ll beat someone up. Maybe that’ll change their mind.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. “No, he doesn’t know. I thought he might have figured it out at one point, but he hasn’t. He really likes the girl he’s going with too and it’s not like I won’t see him there-“

“Who is it? Honestly, I’ll talk to him and he’ll change his mind because, I mean, you’re _you_! Anyone would be lucky to-“

“It’s you.”

Silence.

Julie wanted to absolutely sink in the floor and she wondered if exposing herself as a Power Ranger would be worth it to teleport away, right now. Literally to anywhere, maybe even space. She could scream all she wanted at her own stupidity until she died and no one would even know.

“I… what?”

Julie took a deep sigh, looking up at the sky and sending a small prayer to Dino Jesus that this conversation would _end_ and end _fast_ , before looking at her best friend who was staring at her in shock.

“I wanted to go to prom with you,” she finally said. “But, you’re going with Krista and that _fine_ , she’s really nice and you’ll have a good time. I just missed my chance but for real. It’s okay.”

“Julie… I had no idea,” Conner said, trailing off. She turned to him with a smile as she could feel her heart shattering.

“Seriously, Ball Boy, it’s fine. I-“

And she was saved as their communicators started beeping.

Conner looked around, to see if anyone was watching them as Julie leaned to the side with her hair covering her talking into the bracelet.

“Go for Julie and Conner,” she said.

 _“It’s an emergency,”_ Dr. O said. _“Zeltrax is back. Meet the others at the steel plant on Spring Street.”_

“You got it,” she whispered. She stood up, shoving her book back in her bag. “Let’s go.”

Conner nodded and the two rushed out to his car.

* * *

They quickly met up with the others and ran towards the deserted steel plant, the workers had disappeared and hopefully it was because they had fled. It took a minute to finally find the Renaissance Faire Reject, but once they did they all skidded to a stop to face him down.

Zeltrax stood in the center of a clearing of factory as if he knew it would turn into a fight. Julie clenched her fists, feeling her communicator turn into her morpher just in case.

“Where’s the woman, Zeltrax?” Dr. O asked, staring the enemy down.

“Safe and sound, Rangers,” Zeltrax replied. “Come check if you’d like.”

Before they could even say anything, he let out a yell and charged at them. They ran to him as well.

Conner reached him first, jumping up and kicking, but Zeltrax blocked it and the Red Ranger quickly moved to the side as Kira and Dr. O tried to double team him. Zeltrax knocked Kira’s punch away easily, but actually had to block a few blows from Dr. O before he grabbed him around the waist.

Trent ran forward then, grabbing at Zeltrax’s waist to pull him off of their teacher as Zeltrax kicked Dr. O away. Ethan and Julie nodded at each other before running forward as Zeltrax kicked back and sent Trent flying. Ethan went for a kick, but Zeltrax swiped his foot out from in under him and Julie went for a punch, once, twice, three times, but all three were blocked until he grabbed her hand on the fourth one and threw her away.

She stood back up and quickly rushed in. The fight was honestly a mess with all six of the Rangers trying to fight Zeltrax. Everyone was trying to get a hit in and, sometimes, they managed to get lucky, but for the most part the robotic man kept pushing them away.

“Your time is up, Rangers,” Zeltrax said, once he _finally_ sent Dr. O flying.

The other five ran up to him, to guard him as he stood up, as they faced down Zeltrax. Julie’s heart was beating rapidly in her chest and she was exhausted, even just from that little fight.

They needed to morph.

“Guys, you know what time it is,” Dr. O said as he pushed himself to his feet.

Julie nodded at their teacher as Conner yelled, “Ready!”

“Ready!”

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

“White Ranger, Dino Power! Ha!”

Julie immediately summoned her Stego Axe as the now newly morphed Rangers jumped back into the fight, not ready to give up yet.

It was still a disaster, but it seemed that it was started to go their way. Julie poured her energy into her axe as it extended, holding it with two hands and swiping at Zeltrax to still stay away but also hit the monster.

She looked up, hearing a vague call for help, as Dr. O jumped out of the way of one of Zeltrax’s attacks.

“You guys deal with Zeltrax, I’ll help her,” he said. The Black Ranger didn’t even wait for them to agree before he took off running.

Leaving them down five to one.

Zeltrax fired a terrifying blast at Conner and Ethan, sending them flying through the air as Julie and Kira ran forward. They each split off, running up and over the walls of the shipping crates. Kira fired from her blasters while Julie jumped off at the last minute, jumping over Zeltrax and slashing at him as she flew overhead.

Trent and Ethan teamed up and rushed him next, between the two of them and their swords they managed to wrangle it so that they each had a hold of one of Zeltrax’s arms and knocked him to his knees.

“Go, Kira!” Trent yelled.

The Yellow Ranger ran forward, brandishing her blaster, as Zeltrax managed to look up and fired lasers at her from his eyes and sending her crashing to the ground.

“Did we know he could do that?” Julie asked, trying to gather her breath.

“Nope,” Conner replied before he jumped back in. The Pink Ranger sighed and followed him.

The two Rangers jumped in the air right as Zeltrax flung Ethan and Trent away. Julie reared back her axe to swing, but was stopped as a giant bolt of purple light hit her and knocked her out of the air. She couldn’t help but gasp as she hit the ground, her Stego Axe turning back into its normal form at the last of energy being pumped into it.

“Are you up to the new and improved Zeltrax?” he asked, taunting them. He laughed as he started to glow brightly before turning into the version that Julie had thought Conner defeated when he unlocked his Battilizer.

Guess not.

“You’ve seen one Zeltrax, you’ve seen them all,” Conner said, stepping forward. “Shield of Triumph!”

Julie, Kira, and Ethan stepped forward as well before channeling their Power into the Shield, allowing Conner to transform into the Triassic Ranger.

But he didn’t stop there as he immediately went into his Battilizer mode, stretchy arms included.

“Battle Blast!” he yelled, jumping up and floating in the air due to his cannon-jetpack combo and sending a harsh beam of energy, straight at Zeltrax who _didn’t try to move out of the way_.

“This isn’t good,” Julie couldn’t help but say as she watched the laser hit the monster.

However, it seemed to hit and Zeltrax exploded as Conner landed.

“Yeah!”

“Right on!”

“Guys!”

Julie quickly turned at her teammate’s voice, Dr. O slowly walking as he supported the weight of woman who could barely hold herself up. The woman fell and Dr. O reached down to grab her, carefully righting her.

“Who’s that?” Conner asked, transforming back into his regular-Ranger self.

“Let’s check it out,” Kira said. Julie nodded and ran forward with the others. She and Kira quickly moved to either side of the woman to help her stand.

Until, “It’s Elsa.”

Inside her helmet, Julie’s jaw dropped as she turned to stare at the woman who, yes, was incredibly familiar but she didn’t _look_ like Elsa.

“No way,” Kira gasped.

“Elsa… yes,” the woman said, blearily. She didn’t look like she was all there. “That’s what the creature called me – Elsa.” She lost her balance again with a gasp, falling over. Julie and Kira were thankfully able to catch her in time before she landed on the ground.

“We’d better get her back to the lab and figure out what’s going on,” Dr. O said.

They agreed before hopping onto their Raptor Cycles and speeding off through the forest.

* * *

The woman who was most definitely Elsa had fully passed out on the ride back, not even moving as Dr. O placed her on their hospital bed that they just kept laying around and attaching two little nodes to her head so Hayley could read her brain waves.

“Trent, do you know what happened?” Dr. O asked.

“Mesogog’s powering up a laser that will transform humans to mutant dinosaurs,” the boy explained. Julie wrapped her arms around herself, scared, as Trent continued. “He drained Elsa of her energy to use in the beam.”

“That can’t be enough to run that kind of equipment,” Hayley replied, confused.

“Unless that’s not the only source of power he has,” Julie added.

“He’s going to use the Dino Gems to get the rest of the power,” Trent answered.

The Pink Ranger’s jaw dropped.

“What do you mean he’s gonna use the Dino Gems?” Conner asked.

“Yeah, how is he gonna get them?” Ethan added.

Trent shrugged. “I’m gonna give them to him.”

Julie scoffed. “Right, of course. And how are _you_ going to get them from us? Because I can assure you-”

“Yeah, I’m not gonna give anyone my gem,” Conner said, interrupting her.

Trent sighed. “Look, just hear me out. You want to get onto that island. Mesogog wants the Gems. If I hand them to him, I can open a portal for you.” At their silence, he started walking around the hospital bed. “Once you get inside, you can destroy the beam and Mesogog in the process. And I can rescue my father.”

Dr. O shook his head. “No way. It’s too risky.”

“Do we really have another choice?” Hayley asked.

“She’s right,” Kira added. “I mean, he’s gonna get that thing going eventually. This could be our only shot.”

“Are we seriously not going to talk about how giving up our Dino Gems means giving up our ability to morph?” Julie couldn’t help but ask, stunned at the way this was going. “And what if we can’t stop him or his machine? We couldn’t even deal with Zeltrax unmorphed, what makes you think we can tackle Mesogog?”

But it was already decided, her complaints falling on deaf ears.

Julie watched as the others, including Conner, placed their Dino Gems in a small silver box as she held tightly onto hers, not wanting to let it go. This Dino Gem meant _everything_ to her. It was her confidence, her strength, her friendships. The shiny magic rock that she had stolen from a creepy cave that had spiraled her into her new world, her brother’s world, of superheroes and giant robots.

The others stared at her as she placed it into the box, holding in her tears.

She had a feeling that she would never see it again.

“This better work,” Conner stressed as Trent closed the box once her Gem rested inside.

“I’ll call once the portal’s open,” Trent assured. He nodded at them all before walking out of the lab.

Elsa, who was still passed out in the chair, started to groan. Dr. Oliver turned around quickly and walked over to her, the others followed.

“Are you alright?” he asked, kneeling down next to her.

She sat in silence, for a moment, before snapping out of whatever stupor she had been in since they found her. “I remember everything,” she said.

“Mesogog? Mercer? Fighting against the Power Rangers?”

“Fighting against you,” Elsa said, directly to him. “Mesogog had my mind completely in his power.”

The computer started beeping and Hayley ran over to it, pushing a few buttons before declaring. “The new vehicle’s ready to go.”

“Are you gonna be alright?” Dr. O asked Elsa as he stood up.

She nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

Dr. O looked to the team of gathered teenagers. “Let’s go.”

“Come back safe,” Elsa said.

“We always do.”

* * *

 _“Guys, I’m heading through,”_ Trent said over their communicators. _“Be ready to go when I call you. The portal will only be open for a short time.”_

“Got it,” Dr. O replied. He looked at them, proudly. “No matter what happens, I’m proud of you guys,” he said.

Ethan and Hayley went and quickly jumped into the new vehicle while Conner, Julie, and Kira hopped into the back of Dr. O’s Jeep as he drove them out to one of the quarries.

“Okay, we’re ready to roll,” the red head said as they climbed out. She held up a small device, pointing it off towards the distance. “Activate.”

She could hear something rumble to life in the distance as a giant, bright red semi-truck with ‘Power Rangers’ emblazoned across the front started to drive towards them through the quarry. Julie couldn’t see anybody driving it, but trusted Hayley enough to know that it wouldn’t go haywire and run them over.

Hopefully.

“Woah,” Kira let out. Julie grinned.

“You’ve done it again, Hayley. Good job,” Dr. O said as the giant vehicle came to a stop in front of them. Julie couldn’t help but smile at seeing their Dino logo on the side.

“Now _that_ is sweet,” Ethan said, rubbing his hands together.

“Can I drive?” Conner asked.

“Uh… no,” Hayley replied. Conner elbowed her in the side as she snorted. “We have to make sure we hit the portal at the exact right speed, and we only get once chance at it. You better let me drive.”

“Now it’s up to Trent,” Dr. O declared.

Julie exchanged looks with the others, hoping that the White Ranger would pull through for them.

They all climbed into the cab of the truck, strapping themselves in tightly with the provided safety gear. Julie held tightly to the arms of her seat as Hayley started to drive faster and faster, building up the speed of the monstrous truck.

“Hayley, are we up to speed?”

“Almost,” she replied to Dr. O. “Better hope Trent’s ready.”

Julie closed her eyes, sending a prayer up to Dino Jesus as she held on with a white knuckled grip. This felt different than the last time they had ridden through an Invisiportal, all those months ago to save Dr. O when he had been kidnapped.

This felt like the end.

She opened her eyes in a panic as someone grasped her hand. She looked to see Conner, staring resolutely forward, but his hand was on her arm rest. She turned her hand palm up and gripped his tightly.

Here they go.

“Almost there… a few more ticks,” Hayley said.

Julie wrenched her eyes open, keeping them open, as they started to drive straight at the side of the cliff.

“There’s no portal!” Ethan yelled, panicked.

“Everyone hang on!” Dr. O ordered.

Julie gripped tighter to Conner’s hand as they got closer and closer to the wall. This was where it ended. This, right here.

She closed her eyes, not wanting to see them actually hit the wall as Dr. O yelled. “There it is! It’s open!”

“Yes!” Hayley declared as they were sucked inside. Julie felt the force of the portal pull them back, sliding deeper into her seat, as it opened up and let them out in the middle of the forest of Mesogog’s creepy island.

“Oh thank Dino Jesus we’re alive,” Julie said, letting out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. Hayley slammed on the breaks, causing them to come to a complete stop.

Right in front of a gigantic machine atop a mountain that was quickly starting to charge.

“The beam is powering up. We have to hurry!” Hayley yelled.

There was an emergency beeping sound and, directly in front of the truck, a hoard of Tyranno Drones appeared.

“Hayley, you gotta take out that beam,” Dr. O said.

“I’ll do my best,” the redhead promised. The Black Ranger nodded at her before turning to them.

“Let’s go.”

The four Rangers in the back of the cab quickly unbelted themselves and jumped outside of the massive truck. Julie didn’t know if it was the island’s humidity or her anxiousness as to why she started to sweat.

Honestly, it was probably a mix of both.

The Tyranno Drones continuously ran forward and as Conner called out, “Ready!” the Rangers followed suit. Julie quickly jumped into a fight with three of the Drones, dodging a punch one sent at her and following up with a roundhouse kick to the chest, knocking it off balance. Another one tried to grab her from behind, so she let it and rolled forward into a somersault and knocking it off of her.

Julie heard more than felt the fabric of her jacket tearing as the third swiped at her with its claws. She elbowed it out of the way before swiping one of her legs underneath it, causing it to fall.

She teleported behind another that Ethan was having trouble with and tapped it on the shoulder. When it turned around, it was met with a fist to the face.

“Nice!” the Blue Ranger said as he used his super durability to knock two back at once.

Kira started Ptera Screaming and Julie covered her ears and watched as a group of six Drones went flying off to the side and the truck started barreling forwards.

With no time to waste, Julie started teleporting around the fight, distracting the Drones so her friends could gain the upper hand. She even teleported onto the shoulders of one, pushing it down to the ground, and teleported away before it had even noticed what had happened.

_“You guys, someone has to realign the laser. It’s jammed.”_

Julie and Conner made eye contact across the fighting and nodded at each other.

“We’re on it, Hayley,” the Red Ranger said.

Julie teleported over to him, grabbing onto him tightly, and teleporting to the top of the truck where six Tyranno Drones were messing with the beastly laser.

“Not today,” Julie said as she materialized directly in front of them. Conner quickly broke off from her and started fighting three of them, leaving her with the ones that were actively messing with the machine.

Julie let out a scream as she punched out, hitting one of them away, before another reached out to grab her. She knocked its clawed hand away and kicked out, knocking it back, but it quickly regained its balance and pushed forwards. She grabbed onto its shoulders and pushed it down, kneeing it in the face.

It was so stunned that it fell off the truck.

One down.

She felt the heat of a laser beam as a weapon from the mountain fired at them, but missed, but it was enough to send Conner over the edge of the truck and barely holding on to the railing.

“Conner!” she yelled.

“I got it,” he replied, muffled. “Hold on!”

Julie kicked one of the ones who were watching Conner, waiting for him to fall, over the side of the truck before another one came at her. She ducked its thrown punch right as the trailer of the truck tilted dangerously as Hayley took a tight turn. Julie managed to grab onto the base of the laser to hold herself steady as another one went toppling off.

Once they leveled out, Conner managed to swing up from the side and back on top of the trailer.

They nodded at each other, quickly, and between the two of them they managed to knock the others off quickly. Conner ran over to the laser and resteadied it, lining it up so that its blast would take the weapon out in one go.

“Hayley, is that good?” he asked as Julie watched the sides of the truck to see if any more Tyranno Drones appeared.

_“Close enough, get out of there!”_

He reached for her hand and they jumped at the same time, right as their laser started to fire. Julie closed her eyes and teleported them to the ground where they turned to watch as the laser hit Mesogog’s lair directly.

“Whoo!” Julie cheered, throwing her fists in the air. Conner let out a low laugh and she turned to him with a smile. “Look!”

He turned at her pointing to see Dr. O, Ethan, and Kira running up to them.

“Is it-“

“It’s good,” Conner replied to Kira, who was looking at the destruction in awe.

“Let’s get inside,” Dr. O said.

The teenagers quickly piled into the truck cab, strapping themselves in quickly as Dr. O said, “Good work, Hayley. Let’s go before we’re stuck here.”

“But Trent – we can’t leave him here!” Kira argued.

Hayley sighed. “He won’t leave without his father.”

It was silent for a moment as they all waited for Dr. Oliver’s verdict. The man shook his head before saying, “No one knows this place better than him. We’ll have to trust he’ll make it out.”

Julie let out a staggered breath as she held on tightly to the straps holding her in as Hayley started to slowly push the truck forwards, ramping up the speed for them to escape through an Invisiportal right as the island started to explode around them.

They came to a stop back in the middle of the quarry they had left from, all of them staring forwards and trying to catch their breaths, before they all quickly ran out and stared at the spot where the Invisiportal shut.

“No!” Kira cried, stepping forward. “He can’t be gone!”

“Now what do we do?” Conner asked, staring off into the space where Trent should have come out with them.

“I knew we shouldn’t have left them,” Kira replied, shaking her head.

Loudly, Ethan said, “It’s not like they’re gonna _fall_ out of the _sky_ and _land_ in _front_ of us.”

Julie turned to him, confused, as Kira turned and started to lay into him.

“Were you knocked on the head or something?” the Yellow Ranger yelled, distraught.

“What?” Ethan said. “The last time I did that, it worked.”

Julie remembered, briefly, but but before she could say anything another Invisiportal opened in the sky and Trent and Dr. Mercer fell out of it, landing directly in front of them.

“See?” Ethan asked.

Julie let out a relieved laugh, relaxing her shoulders as they all ran up to the boy and his dad.

“You guys are all right,” Kira said, relieved.

“And Ethan’s a wizard!” Julie added, smiling at the Blue Ranger.

“What about Mesogog?” Dr. O asked.

She had _completely_ forgotten about him, but Trent thankfully said, “I don’t think he made it.” They were silent, for a moment. Was it really over? “But just in case,” Trent added as he opened the same little case that they had placed their Dino Gems in earlier that day.

Out of breath, Dr. Mercer finally spoke. “Tommy… I don’t know where to start.”

“We’ll talk later,” Dr. O replied, slapping the man on his shoulder. “Right now we better get back to the lab. We still have Zeltrax to deal with.”

Oh right, the Renaissance Faire Reject.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want you guys to know that I cried SO MUCH writing this chapter and the next one. There's gonna be a big ol' sappy post at the end of Friday's update, so be ready for it.


	30. Thunder Struck Part 2

When they got back to the lab, Julie couldn’t help but gasp loudly, covering her mouth as she looked around in horror at the state of it.

“What happened?” Kira asked, as she looked around.

Julie walked in, slowly, trying to see if there was anything at all salvageable through the dust and smoke that still hadn’t settled, but there was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Someone had _destroyed_ their lab.

“It’s trashed,” Ethan said, his jaw dropped.

“Elsa,” Dr. O said, with finality.

Julie clenched her jaw. She _had_ been there, hadn’t she? All alone in their lab. Her ‘poor pitiful me’ act had to have been just that, an _act_. And they fell for it - hook, line and sinker.

“Huh, what’s this?” Conner asked, reaching down and picking something up. Julie turned from looking at the destruction as Hayley replied.

“It’s like a black box,” the red head said. “I keep a security camera in it.” She took it from Conner’s hands, quickly, and walked over to a smaller monitor that they had never used for anything other than physical readings and plugged it in. Julie, with the others, squeezed tight together to watch as the small little screen flared to life.

“Zeltrax,” Ethan growled.

It wasn’t Elsa that destroyed their lab, no, it was Zeltrax. Zeltrax who came in and _kidnapped_ the woman again.

“This is all my fault,” Dr. Mercer said, shaking his head. “I should’ve stopped him.”

“Don’t blame yourself for what you did when you were _him_ ,” Trent said.

Dr. O sighed, placing a consoling hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Trent is right, Anton. This is about me and Smitty. It had nothing to do with you.”

“But if there were no Mesogog-“

“We can’t go back and change what’s happened,” Dr. O replied, interrupting the man. “Mesogog is _gone_. We should be thankful for that.”

“So, what now?” Conner asked, drawing their attention to him. “I guess we don’t have to give up our morphers just yet.”

The Black Ranger shook his head. “No.”

* * *

“Julie! Hey, wait up.”

The Pink Ranger turned from where she was ascending the steps from what had been their lab into Dr. O’s house to wait for her brother as Conner ran up to her. Justin had been _frantic_ when she had finally looked at her phone to see that she had six missed calls and four voicemails. He understood Rangering, but he knew that they were ramping up to the end.

She thought he was getting the “my friends flying into space without me” vibes again.

“What’s up?” Julie asked, stopping as the taller boy caught up to her easily with his long legs. Together, the two of them climbed the rest of the way up as Kira, Dr. O, and Hayley stayed down in the lab. Trent and Dr. Mercer had left for somewhere awhile ago and Ethan needed to get back to get in line for his movie.

“I just, what you were saying, before everything.”

Julie was confused, for a moment, before it all came rushing back and she wanted to rewind time so that _she_ could be in the lab as Zeltrax demolished it and hopefully took her with it.

“Oh yeah. That,” she replied, warily.

Conner looked down at her before quickly looking away, running a hand through his already disheveled hair from their complete sinking of an entire island. He opened his mouth a few times, before shutting it, unsure of what to say.

“Conner, it’s fine-“

“I wish I would’ve known-“

They stopped, realizing that they were talking over each other. He motioned for her to go first and she sighed, plastering a smile on.

“Conner, it’s fine,” she said. “You and Krista are going together and you’ll have fun. I’ll be there too, also having fun. Seriously, it is not the end of the world-“

“I didn’t think you were even interested,” Conner said, cutting her off. “I mean, you’re _you_ and I’m… a dumb jock.”

Julie reached out and grabbed his hand, entwining their fingers once she noticed the size difference and how his hand completely dwarfed hers.

“You’re _not_ just a dumb jock,” she said, looking him directly in the eye. “You’re so much more than that, so please, don’t ever think that of yourself.” She smiled, taking a deep breath. “Just save me a dance, yeah?”

At that, her phone started beeping which meant that Justin was there. Julie sighed and let go of Conner’s hand and walked outside to see her brother leaning against his flashy, bright blue sports car with his arms crossed.

“Hey, Big Brain,” she said, walking down the steps of Dr. O’s porch. “I’m sorry I missed your messages, I-“

But he cut her off by wrapping her in literally the tightest hug her brother had ever given to her. He didn’t let go after a few seconds either, which he was won’t to do, and Julie slowly felt all of the emotions from the day start to rise up as her throat closed up and she started crying.

“Shh, Jules, it’s okay,” Justin said consolingly as she started crying in his arms. “I promise. It sucks now, but it’ll be fine.”

“Zeltrax destroyed our _lab_ ,” she said. “We went to another dimension and destroyed Mesogog’s island with him still on it and had to leave behind our friend and we didn’t know if he’d make it back in time and we almost _died_ who knows how many times and Zeltrax broke into our lab and turned it into rubble.”

Justin sat there, holding her as she got it all out. There was definitely more that she could say, all of the Ranger business that she had kept quiet from Justin because he didn’t deal well with it, but she didn’t and just let herself be held as she cried.

Then, her communicator beeped.

Her brother gave her one last squeeze before pushing her away, holding her at arm’s distance.

“Julie, as a one time Power Ranger and your brother, I can gladly say that I’m proud of you.”

“This is the end, isn’t it?” she asked. “The big one.”

Justin sighed before nodding. “Probably. But you got this. You and your team are so good at what they do.”

“Julie!”

The Pink Ranger turned to see Kira waving at her from the porch, gesturing her over, and she nodded at her friend before turning back and hugging her brother tightly, one last time. Just in case.

“May the Power protect you,” Justin said, calmly.

“We’re gonna kick some ass,” Julie replied, smiling.

The Stewart siblings high-fived as Julie ran up to the porch where the others were waiting.

“Is it morphing time?” she asked. Kira shoved her, lightly, as Conner stepped forward.

“Ready?”

“Ready!”

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

“White Ranger, Dino Power! Ha!”

* * *

“What _is_ that thing?” Julie couldn’t help but say as they ran up to Ethan who was staring up at a giant, mechanical monster.

It was honestly the most massive thing they had faced. It looked tall and regal and was carrying a sword almost as large as it. Julie stared up at it in awed wonder…

That quickly turned to terror as Zeltrax’s voice came out of it. _“Power Rangers, surrender! Or my most precious cargo will be destroyed.”_

“I bet he’s got Elsa in there,” Conner said.

_“Correct! I wanted her to see your demise. Triptoids!”_

Julie immediately summoned her Stego Axe as the hoard of monsters appeared, bobbing and weaving along while making their little trilling sound. The six Rangers didn’t waste any time in running forward to return the attack.

The Pink Ranger swung for one and then poured her energy into her Axe to turn it into it’s longer form and immediately took out two more that Kira bumped her way. She angled it into the ground and leaped, using it as a prop as she kicked backwards and sent one towards Dr. O who hit it with his staff.

She saw a bright flash of green light out of the corner of her eye and didn’t have time to brace herself as the laser blast from Zeltrax’s Zord hit the ground near them, the force from the blow sending her flying through the air and landing roughly on the ground.

“This has gone far enough,” Dr. O said, pushing himself to his feet a little bit away. “Trent, Julie, can you handle the Triptoids?”

“Not a problem,” Trent replied, standing up.

“You got it Dr. O,” Julie replied, already pushing more of her energy into her weapon and making it grow even longer.

The Pink and White Rangers nodded at each other before immediately jumping into the fight with the creatures, Trent slashing away with his sword and Julie cutting at them with her super long axe.

She could vaguely hear Dr. O telling the others to call the Zords while he went to get Elsa, but the two Rangers were quickly overwhelmed with how outnumbered they were.

“Trent! Do your speed thing!” Julie called. The White Ranger nodded at her before speeding up, slashing through the monsters. Julie, in turn, shrunk her Axe down to its normal size and started teleporting to wherever Trent had just been, swinging at the monsters and knocking them down as the others waged a giant robot battle in the middle of the city.

Given a brief break as Zeltrax’s foot soldiers tried to regain the balance, Julie glanced up to see that Zeltrax had wrapped the MegaZord in a familiar, bright green rope and lifted them in the air.

“That’s not good,” Trent said, also looking up.

“They’re getting rinsed!” Julie added as, now, the Thundersaurus MegaZord and the Mezodon MegaZord were being attacked by Zeltrax’s machine.

“It looks like we might be too,” Trent replied. Julie turned around as another wave of the Triptoids ran up to them.

This wasn’t good.

 _“Guys, I got her. We’re coming out,”_ Kira said over the comms.

Julie took the good news with a grain of salt as she held her Stego Axe in her hands while the sky started to go dark.

“Trent, duck!” The White Ranger thankfully listened to her as a Triptoid came up from behind him and swiped at his head with its weapon, missing entirely. She summoned her blaster and fired off one, two shots at it, knocking it back.

Julie teleported behind a small group that started to run towards where she had been and immediately ran into them from behind, swinging her Axe and firing at them with her blaster in tandem, trying to do as much damage as possible as Zeltrax’s machine let out another bright green energy blast towards the MegaZords.

“Behind you!”

Julie let out a scream as Trent shouted too late and she got hit in the back by one of the Triptoids. She let out a growl of anger before turning around and grabbing onto it, pushing her energy through like Dr. O had taught them, and caused the Triptoid to evaporate out of anger.

She was done playing.

As the giant robot fight above the city continued and Trent continued to slice and stab at as many Triptoids as he could, Julie started to teleport around, appearing behind, in front of, and even on top of the Triptoids and surging her energy through them to dismantle them piece by piece.

“You made it!” she heard Trent say. Julie turned to see Kira and Elsa now standing down there on the ground with them and the two women ran over right as Dr. O himself jumped out.

“Dr. O!” Julie yelled.

“Are you okay?” Trent asked.

The man nodded as they heard a scream, turning to see that the powered up form of Zeltrax had also followed them out of the giant robot.

“You didn’t think I’d let you go that easily, did you?” Zeltrax asked, slowly stalking towards him, his bright green eyes blaring through the haze that had enveloped the city.

“Elsa, come with me,” Trent said, grabbing the woman and running off.

Instead of joining them, Julie summoned all of her courage and stood beside her teammates, holding her Stego Axe aloft and ready to strike.

“You’re going down Tommy,” Zeltrax said.

“Kira, Julie, you with me?” Dr. O asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Kira replied.

“One hundred percent,” Julie said, solidly as she readjusted her grip on the Axe, funneling her energy into it to make it long.

In unison, the three of them darted forward to attack. Dr. Oliver, brandishing his Brachio Staff, flipped forward, striking at him. Kira and Julie, each with their own weapons, followed.

Julie looked up once she landed solidly on her feet, panting from all of the fighting that she had done today, to see Zeltrax drop his sword and fall to the ground before he, himself, exploded like all of Mesogog’s monsters before him.

Without missing a beat, the three of them ran towards where Trent and Elsa had been hiding right as Zeltrax’s monster sent a pretty devastating blow to the Thundersaurus MegaZord.

“Conner!” Julie yelled as it stumbled.

“You’re gonna need all the Zords,” Dr. O said to the two boys through his communicator.

 _“Right,”_ the Red Ranger replied.

Julie heard the BrachioZord roar as all of the auxiliary Zords, the StegoZord, and the DragoZord stood tall above the city in a giant, prehistoric robotic rainbow arsenal.

 _“Dino Zords, full power!”_ Conner yelled.

All of the different Zords that they had worked with and come to love started to glow a brilliant white light, before firing said light in a massive beam towards Zeltrax’s giant machine and hitting it directly. The beam didn’t even finish passing through the monster before it started wobbling as it started to collapse on itself before falling and crashing onto the pavement.

 _“We did it!”_ Conner said.

Julie started to cheer, thinking it was over, but the monster quickly righted itself and all of the damage that they had done to it disappeared.

“Did we know it could do that?” Julie asked the other Rangers.

The mechanical monster started to do something as everything started to be sucked towards it. Debris from all over the city was flying over their heads as Julie dug the pointed end of her Axe into the ground to keep herself planted.

“You’ve gotta sacrifice the Zords!” Dr. O said as whatever attack the monster was doing was disrupting the two MegaZords. Julie gasped.

 _“We can’t!”_ Conner yelled.

 _“No, Dr. Oliver,”_ Ethan pleaded.

Julie felt tears streaming down her face underneath her helmet as the force of the pull started to get stronger and stronger as actual cars started to fly towards the monster.

“You’ve got to do it,” Dr. O said, sadly. “It’s the only way.”

Her heart broke as Conner agreed, right as the force was enough to start pulling the MegaZords towards them. Julie reached out to grab onto Kira’s hand and grip Trent’s arm.

 _“Engage Auto-destruct!”_ she heard Conner say.

 _“I’m trying!”_ Ethan replied.

The monster opened its arms once the two MegaZords got pulled closer and closer, like it was welcoming them into a hug.

‘Goodbye, Stella,’ Julie thought, sending the message through the wavelength that she had shared with her most trusty Zord since the day they met. The StegoZord sent comforting and accepting thoughts back.

 _“Goodbye, old friends,”_ Conner said.

Julie watched with baited breath as Dr. Oliver mumbled, “Get out of there, guys.”

The two MegaZords went in to grab the monster around its waist and the sparks and smoke reached a point where Julie couldn’t see what was happening anymore until a burst of light and a giant explosion occurred and the MegaZords and the monster were gone.

“Guys!” Dr. O shouted.

Julie fully felt herself sob as she clutched her gloved hand over the mouth of her helmet and tried to sensor the sound, but definitely forgot that that was impossible as she watched and waited for her friends to reappear.

The four Rangers on the ground demorphed and quickly ran towards where the MegaZords had gone down as the haze that had covered the city slowly lifted and the civilians emerged out to try and salvage what they could. Julie was out of breath, pushed to her limits, as they ran through what had once been a warehouse before it stood in the way of a giant robot fight with the others, looking for any sign of their two missing Rangers.

“Where are they?” Kira asked, panicked.

“Conner!” Julie called. “Ethan!”

Then, through the smoke and fire of the burning warehouse, two shadowed forms slowly started to limp towards them.

“Is that-“ Trent started as the two shadows started to get closer and closer.

“It’s them!” Kira yelled. Julie couldn’t hold in her emotions anymore as they ran towards the two boys, pulling them both into a tight hug.

“That was impressive,” Kira said, from inside the giant group hug.

“But the Zords… they’re destroyed,” Ethan said, stumbling over his words as he and Conner both tried to catch their breaths.

Dr. O sighed, patting both boys on the shoulder. “It was the only way. You guys did what you had to do.”

“It’s true,” Trent added. “Nothing else would have stopped him.”

“So that’s it then,” Conner said, defeated. Julie could hear how thick his voice had gotten from holding in his emotions. “It can’t just be over-“

“Of course it’s not over!”

Julie and the others slowly turned as the familiar voice of Mesogog rose out of the din, the sun setting behind him in the background bathing him in light while he stood with his arms out, growling.

“Why do they always come back for more?” Dr. O asked with a sigh.

“You destroyed my plans of creating a perfect world,” Mesogog growled. “However, I was able to absorb enough Dino Gem energy to complete my transfiguration. Witness the face of your final battle.”

Mesogog started to radiate energy as parts of his body grew, transformed, into one of the dinosaurs he so clearly coveted. What was left was _monstrous_ – large talons, exposed horns, an armored neck, but his creepy head remained almost the same, staring down at them from his much taller form with its bright yellow eyes.

Julie stared in shock, avoiding looking at the others because she was too afraid that he would try something while she was distracted.

“You better step aside, Elsa,” Dr. O said to the woman who had been with them since they saved her. Julie followed her with her eyes as she quickly ran away until she would have had to turn her head to do so.

Dr. O, however, followed her the entire way before facing forward again and standing strong. “You guys ready for one more battle?”

“Oh yeah,” Conner said, smirking. “Ready?”

“Ready!”

“Dino Thunder, Power Up! Ha!”

“White Ranger, Dino Power! Ha!”

“Tyranno Power!” Conner said, swinging his Tyranno Staff as his suit slowly transformed into Super Dino Mode.

“Stego Power!” Julie yelled, flailing her Stego Axe through the air as her suit did the same thing, the plate growing over her body like armor.

“Tricera Power!” Ethan said, the giant shoulders of his suit sticking straight out as he held his Tricer Shield in front of him.

“Ptera Power!” Kira added, her suits wings glistening in the setting sun as she brandished her Ptera Grips.

“Brachio Power!” Dr. O yelled, swinging his sword as his golden plates shone brightly in the setting sun.

“Drago Power!” Trent ended, holding his own sword aloft, looking deadly with the many spikes of his own Super Dino Mode.

“Dino Rangers!”

Julie could feel the Morphing Grid crackle with energy as the force of their power caused a small explosion behind them. She hoped that the sight was terrifying enough that Mesogog would give up immediately and they wouldn’t have to do this.

But, of course, he didn’t.

“This is it!” Conner yelled, gripping tightly to his staff.

As one, all six Dino Thunder Rangers ran forwards to end this, once and for all. Mesogog let out several blue energy blasts that they ran through, dodging each one in turn as they hit the ground and exploded.

The three primary colored Rangers jumped into the air, up and over Mesogog as Julie teleported behind him to join them. Kira reached out first, striking at him with her Ptera Grips as he knocked her and then Ethan, who moved to attack with his Tricera Shield, out of the way.

Trent and Dr. O jumped into the fight next, each running up and swinging their swords as Julie teleported behind Mesogog again and swung at him with her Axe. She let out a scream as Mesogog sent her away as Kira quickly jumped in, filling in her place in the fight.

The three of them went to strike at once, but Mesogog managed to block all three at once before hitting them at point blank range with an energy blast and sending them rolling through the air.

He started to stalk forward towards the downed Rangers as Conner, himself, ran forward and jumped on Mesogog’s back, holding onto him for dear life.

“I’ve got him!” he yelled. Julie pushed her energy into her Axe as he distracted Mesogog long enough for the downed Rangers to stand up again. Trent was the first one who rushed forwards, quickly followed by Dr. O and Ethan.

Mesogog fired another blast at Trent and Ethan who didn’t manage to get completely out of the way in time, sending them flying forwards.

Julie let out a battle cry as she, herself, ran forward. She swung her elongated Axe first and Mesogog avoided the hit before she placed the tip in the ground and used it to swing around, kicking him in the chest before he batted her away to the side like she was an ant.

As she clawed her way up to her feet, Mesogog grabbed Dr. O and pushed him against a car before firing another blast directly at him. Julie gasped as Kira cried, “Dr. O!” and the sparks erupted from him in a blaze of light, his body slowly falling to the ground as Mesogog laughed darkly.

“Hey!” Kira yelled, bringing Mesogog’s attention to her. Julie ran to stand beside her, holding her Axe aloft.

“Back off, creep,” Julie yelled at him.

Mesogog growled and pushed the car that he had pinned Dr. O too at them. Kira jumped on the hood and ran over the top while Julie teleported into the air before landing on the ground and running towards the monster.

Kira opened her wings and flew, but Mesogog let off another energy blast that caused the car to explode and knocked the Yellow Ranger out of the air and into Julie, causing them both to fall to the ground in a pile.

“My turn,” she heard Conner yell as she tried to catch her breath from underneath her friend.

She looked up as Conner ran towards the monster, only for Mesogog to stick out his extremely long tongue to try and grab the Red Ranger. Conner avoided it as best he could, flipping and diving around another destroyed car before the tongue managed to wrap around him and send him flying.

“Hovercraft Cycle!” Ethan yelled, riding up on his bike. He shot its lasers at Mesogog, catching him off guard as he drove by. Mesogog turned quickly and fired off another blast that narrowly missed the Blue Ranger.

“Over here, Meso-mess!” Conner taunted, standing back up and jumping back into action. “Triassic Ranger! Battilized Mode!”

Julie quickly ran over to check on Dr. O as Conner quickly transformed into, first, the Triassic Ranger, and then into his Battilizer. She helped the man sit up and lean against a piece of rubble as the man tried to catch his breath.

“You okay, Doc?” she asked, quietly as Conner summoned his Cannons and yelled “Battle Blast!”

“I’m good,” the Black Ranger replied. “Get in there.”

The Pink Ranger nodded at her mentor before standing up, making sure he was properly propped up and ran to where Kira was waiting, having dropped into a fighting stance.

This Battle Blast was stronger than any Julie had seen since he got his Battilizer. Two full-bodied cannon beams of pure, Morphing Grid energy battered into Mesogog’s still body for at least ten full seconds before the force sent him flying through the air as he left a trail of sparks in his wake until he slammed into what had once been a supporting wall and buried him in rubble.

As quick as she could, Julie made her way over to Conner with the others as they all dropped out of their Super Dino Modes, as the Battle Blast used up all of their extra energy from the Morphing Grid.

“You did it, Conner!” Kira cheered.

“Seriously!” Julie added.

He chuckled, holding his side. “Thanks.”

Then, Mesogog busted up from the rubble, standing tall and laughing menacingly.

“Unbelievable,” Dr. O said, shaking his head.

As if it couldn’t get any worse, Julie watched as Mesogog literally split himself in two, cloning himself.

“He’s replicating!” Conner yelled as the now two Mesogog’s replicated _again_ so now there were four.

“One was bad enough,” Ethan said. “How do we fight them all?”

“The party was for six, sir, I’m afraid there’s no room,” Julie couldn’t help but say, still staring as though she were stunned.

“Guys, we have to use all of our Powers,” Dr. O concluded. “It’s the only way.”

“Right,” Conner agreed.

The others followed suit as Trent said, “Do it, Conner!”

Just like they had done the very first time that they sent their energy to Conner to transform into the Triassic Ranger, they all made a sweeping motion with their arms before pulling their Powers to the physical forefront. Julie cradled hers in front of her body, like a friend.

“I summon the Power of the Gem!” Conner yelled.

Julie closed her eyes as the Power rushed over her with its bright light, consuming her completely. As one, they all put their fist into the air, palm facing the sky and yelled. “Dino Gems, unite!”

She could feel more than see the force that they created as all six Rangers combined their Powers. Still glowing, they threw their hands forward and commanded the giant Tyrannosaurus that they had coalesced into to attack the four Mesogogs.

It wasted no time in _leaping_ over them and snapping its dangerous jaws around all four of the enemies, destroying them in one, final blow.

* * *

Julie couldn’t help but rub her bracelet once they all demorphed, coming down off of the Power high for the last time. She joined the others in gathering in a circle in the destroyed warehouse that had seen the sacrifice of their Zords and all of the Dino Rangers coming together as one to take out their number one enemy.

“Is everyone okay?” Dr. O asked, looking at them all individually.

“I feel… different,” Conner said, looking down at his own body, before grabbing his red Dino Gem and looking at it as if it would solve all of his answers.

“Yeah, like normal again,” Trent said, looking down at his hands, confused.

“Me too,” Kira said.

Julie held her Gem tightly in her hand, not looking at it because she could feel the lack of Power that should be residing in it.

“It’s gone,” Ethan said, panicked. “Our Powers are gone.”

“That drained our Gems, didn’t it?” she asked, turning to Dr. O.

The man, now just their teacher, sighed. “It took everything the Gems had to destroy Mesogog.”

“So these are just-“ Conner started.

“Ancient artifacts,” Dr. O replied. “That will look great in a museum.”

Julie closed her eyes and could feel the strain as she tried to sense anything coming from the Gem, but it was a no go.

Her magic rock was no more.

“Hello, Rangers.”

Julie turned, shocked, to see Elsa standing there with, and she couldn’t make this up, _Cassidy and Devin_. She turned, panicked, and saw Conner’s face drop as he started to stumble forward.

“So you know then,” the once Red Ranger said, defeated.

“Well, I kinda already knew,” Devin explained, a smile on his face. “But I had to show Cassidy in person.”

“This is, like, the greatest thing ever!” the blonde girl said, throwing her hands up excitedly. She then turned around and hugged her friend and cameraman.

Julie just stood there with her face in her hands, overwhelmed. They had been caught and they didn’t even have their Powers anymore to do anything about it! This was an _actual_ nightmare.

“And we’ve got it all on tope!” Cassidy said, smiling brightly and holding said tape in her hands. “You know, a reporter could make a whole career out of this.”

Julie exchanged a look with the others, worried how this was going to play out.

“Cassidy, do you realize what our lives will be like if that tape gets out?” Dr. O said, trying to appeal to a sense of decency that the once Pink Ranger honestly didn’t even know the other girl could possess.

“Yeah,” she replied. “I do. That’s why I’m giving this to you.” She held the tape out and placed it into Dr. O’s open hands.

Kira spoke first. “Wait, Cassidy passing up a scoop of a lifetime?”

“Am I dead?” Julie asked. “Did we actually lose and I just imagined the past few minutes?”

“Why?” Kira said, talking over her.

Julie looked up to see Cassidy and Devin both looking at them earnestly. “Because you’re my friends,” the blonde said. “It wouldn’t be right to ruin your lives just to make mine better, not after everything you’ve done for us.”

She let out a breath that she didn’t know she was holding as Ethan said, “I always knew there was a heart deep down in there somewhere.”

“Yeah, I just needed someone to help me find it,” Cassidy replied, looking over at Devin. “Now, if you’ll excuse us….”

“Yeah, we’re off to the prom,” Devin finished, holding his arm out. Cassidy looped her own arm through his and the two walked away, stepping around the bits of destruction and leaving the rest of them staring after them in more than a little confusion as Elsa followed turned and followed them out.

“Finally,” Kira said, laughing. “I thought those two were _never_ gonna get together.”

Conner sighed. “And just like that – life goes back to normal.”

“Or, as normal as it can be, anyway,” Julie said, thinking about her new connection to all of the Rangers past, present, and future and the mark that they, the Dino Ranger, would have on them.

“Our life may be normal, but trust me, it will never be the same,” Dr. Oliver said, calmly.

Julie gripped her Dino Gem tightly as they turned to walk in the opposite direction, back towards Dr. Oliver’s house and their now-destroyed lab. She linked arms with Ethan, her first friend here in Reefside, and Conner, her very best friend, as they left.

* * *

The once Pink Ranger couldn’t help but laugh as she spun around as she and her date arrived to the prom. She could already hear the music blasting from inside and there were twinkle lights literally everywhere as all of the Senior class and their dates made their way inside the fancy building.

She turned to see her date, Eric McKnight, standing next to his twin brother Conner who had locked arms with his date, Krista. After the battle, Conner introduced her to his brother who was home for the weekend from Ninja School and asked if he could be Julie’s date since there was no prom for the Ninjas and Julie had, reluctantly, agreed. The two couples had decided to get dinner beforehand, pooling their money together for a limo to arrive together in style.

“Come on,” she said, looping her arm through his. “Let’s go see if we can find the others!”

“Ethan should be here somewhere,” Conner said as Krista threaded her own arm through his. “I haven’t heard anything from Kira yet.”

“She’ll be here,” Julie replied.

She waved to the circus performer on stilts as they walked past, looking around the crowd to see if she spotted any of her friends.

“Is that him?” Krista asked, pointing to a guy standing alone with a game system in his hands.

Julie snorted. “That’s him alright. Good ol’ Ethan.”

But Conner didn’t wait before walking up to him, Krista almost stumbling in her heels to catch up to the long-legged man. Eric smiled down at her, a completely different smile than the one that Conner gave her, but it was weird coming from a face that looked _exactly_ like Conner’s.

“Let’s go catch up?” Julie nodded, keeping up with his long-legged pace.

“Ethan, my man,” Conner said, bro fisting the once Blue Ranger. “You remember Krista?”

“Was she on the list?” Ethan asked. Julie couldn’t see Conner’s expression, but she did see Ethan’s eyes widened once he realized he slipped up. “Sure, I remember! You’re the tree girl.”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” she replied, awkwardly laughing.

Julie snorted. “Hey, Ethan!”

“Julie!” he said, turning to her and grinning, before that grin also fell off of his face. “And… also Conner?” He looked back and forth between the twins, confused.

Eric laughed and held out his hand. “I’m Eric,” he said. “Conner’s twin. We have… similar friends.”

Julie noticed at once when it clicked in Ethan’s head as his eyes widened in recognition instead of panic.

“Dude! It’s so nice to meet you,” he said, shaking his hand.

Julie grinned, sharing a look with Conner who rolled his eyes.

“I’m gonna get a drink,” Krista said. She turned to Conner. “Do you want some?”

“Yeah, that’d be great,” he replied, smiling at her.

Eric tapped her on the shoulder. “I’m gonna head that way too.”

“Get me one?” Julie asked. The other McKnight nodded and followed after Krista, quickly catching up with the other girl and leaving the three alone.

“I totally forgot you had a twin, dude,” Ethan said, staring off after them in confusion. Julie let out a laugh.

“Right? It’s so _weird_ ,” she said. “But Eric’s nice.”

“And you couldn’t go with the McKnight that you wanted to so the second string will do,” Conner joked, elbowing her. She shoved him back, laughing.

“So what made you change your mind?” the ex-Red Ranger asked Ethan. “I thought you weren’t coming. Had all the mutant freaks you could handle for one year?”

Ethan chuckled. “Actually, I had a chance to rethink the whole prom-tradition thing,” he said as a pretty blonde girl walked up to him and handing him a drink.

“Here you go,” she said, smiling at him happily.

Julie’s eyebrows raised as Ethan thanked her gently, sharing the same smile. The girl turned to them and grinned brightly, apparently recognizing them.

“Oh hey! You must be Julie and Conner! Ethan’s told me all about you,” she said.

Julie gave Ethan a concerned look as Conner replied, grinning stupidly, “I’m sure he has.”

“Where’s your friend Kira? I want to meet her, too,” the girl asked. “By the way, I’m Angela. It’s so nice to meet you guys!”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Julie replied, smiling sweetly at the girl that Ethan appeared absolutely enamored with.

Ethan’s smile dropped as he looked around, trying to look through the slowly growing crowd to see if he could find their errant friend.

“I don’t know where she is,” he finally said.

Conner shrugged. “Maybe she’s blowing it off. She did say she didn’t have a date.”

“I’m sure she’ll be here,” Julie said.

“Hey, guys.”

The voice came from above and Julie and the others all looked up to see Trent leaning and waving at them over the balcony where he stood with his father, Dr. Oliver, and Katherine who had shown up in a dress the exact same color as Julie’s. The two Pink Rangers smiled at each other as the guys waved to Trent before he started talking to Dr. O.

Eric and Krista walked up to them, laughing with each other. Krista was only holding one drink in her hands while Eric was bearing the brunt of the load with the other three. Julie took hers from her date gracefully, standing in a circle with the others as Angela introduced herself to them.

A microphone feedback caused Julie to wince, breaking off her laughter as she turned to see Dr. Oliver standing up on the stage with a bright smile on his face. He was decked out in all black, as was befitting of Krampus. Now that their tenure as Rangers was over, the teenagers had started to call him that as well without the penalty of having to do suicides at training.

“Okay, guys,” he started. “I just wanted to say we’ve had an interesting year. We’ve been through a lot, more than any school should have to go through. But we’ve made it and we’re okay. That’s what’s important, so let’s have fun tonight!” Julie joined the crowd and cheered, jumping a little in her heels out of joy. “And to help us do that, here she is… Kira Ford!”

Julie gasped as Ethan choked on his drink as the curtains were pulled open to reveal Kira standing behind them with her full band. Eric started beating the choking boy on the back as he slowly tried to start breathing right.

“Why didn’t she tell us?” Ethan finally managed to say as the music started playing.

She just shook her head in wonder as Kira started strumming her acoustic guitar and singing while confetti started to fall.

Trent had made his way down to them from the balcony right as Dr. O and Katherine pushed their way through the crowd to stand with them as well. The two Pink Rangers quickly locked pinkies before turning and paying attention to Kira sing.

Julie cheered loudly once the original song that Kira had written was over, laughing with the others as the band started playing a simple, slow song.

“Wanna dance?” Eric asked, turning to her. Julie quickly glanced around him as Conner asked Krista the same thing before the two of them walked a little further away.

“Sounds great,” she said.

Eric placed his hands on her waist, holding her gently as she reached up and threaded her’s around his neck – her heels giving her the added height that would have normally made that impossible.

“You look great tonight, Princess,” her date said, smiling down at her.

“Hey, don’t call me - _Conner_?” she sputtered, quietly as she realized that she recognized the familiar smile of Conner’s that he only gave her. “What? _How_? Krista-“

“Won’t even notice,” he said. “Besides, I think she’ll like Eric better anyway. They’re both kind of tree people.”

She was still shocked as they slowly rocked in place, before the sheer joy overrode and she smiled up at him.

“What?” Conner asked, holding her tighter. “I told you I would save you a dance.”

Julie quickly pulled him down, planting a solid kiss on the boy’s cheek. He straightened up, this time he was the one stunned as she continued to sway.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaand that's it! Dino Thunder is over! I don't want to tell you how many times I cried writing this chapter. Literally so many. I started this fic because I was extremely depressed and not in a very good place and Power Rangers literally helped me claw my way out and look! Over 150,000 words later I have an actual novel-length work of art with a sequel fully planned AND fun one shots. The first one shot will be posted Monday and I'm hoping that I'll have the first chapter of the sequel out next Friday. Can you guess which team Julie is in? And what color? I've thrown a bunch of hints throughout because I love foreshadowing. 
> 
> See you Monday! And thank you so so much for reading what I call my Power Rangers Nightmare Garbage so I don't take it too seriously, even thought I definitely take it super seriously.

**Author's Note:**

> find me https://linktr.ee/shellacopter


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